Nemesis of Providence
by ambruary
Summary: No matter what you think you know about the future, it's more than likely that you're just reading the tea leaves wrong.
1. Chapter 1

"You don't have to use my name, you know that right? Greengrass is a good name. A name without any baggage you would have to deal with. No one would ever have to know about who your family is." Draco said to his son whose eyes hadn't left his Hogwarts acceptance letter since it arrived minutes before.

However, his father's words drew his attention away from the piece of parchment in his hands. Scorpius' face screwed up in a confused fashion as he registered what his father had said.

"Why wouldn't I want to use your name Dad? It's a good name. I'm proud to be a Malfoy." Scorpius said with such conviction that Draco had to smile.

"As you should. But your classmates might not feel the same way. There will be those who will judge you before they even take the chance to get to know you, solely because you share a name with your grandfather and… and with me." Draco explained with a look of shame on his face.

"But Grandfather Lucius is in Azkaban for stuff that happened nearly twenty years ago, and you never hurt anyone. Surely everyone has gotten over all that by now." Scorpius understood why people would hate his grandfather; after only seeing him twice in his short eleven years he could see there was nothing but evil in that man. His Dad though, he was nothing but the best Dad any boy could ask for.

Draco couldn't help but feel a swell of pride at his son's words. After having such poor relations with his own father, Draco had vowed to do a better job with his own child.

However, that feeling quickly left as he thought of what was to come on the first of September. No longer could he hide his past and pretend none of it happened. Draco and Astoria both had wanted to leave behind their dark pasts, so they had practically disappeared from the wizarding world. Secluding themselves to Malfoy Manor, the Malfoys avoided almost everyone from their school days. However, once Scorpius got his Hogwarts letter, they knew that the past would never be completely forgotten and his son had a right to know what he would be up against.

"Many people would disagree with you Scorp." Draco swallowed and sat down at the table. Scorpius copied his father's actions. "You see, when I was your age I had all these ideas about who should be able to call themselves wizards and how those who didn't come from the same type of upbringing as myself should be treated. I thought that I was better than others simply because of who I was born to." Draco started to explain.

"But that's stupid no one can have any effect of who their parents are and if they have magic in their blood or not."

"I know that now, but as a kid I was…well I was a real git to truthful. Your grandfather taught me to believe, just as he had been taught by his father, that the most important goal of any wizarding family was blood purity. Keeping that tradition, he thought, made our family better. Since we had only wizarding families in our heritage we were stronger, and more powerful than wizards with mixed blood."

"That's not true! Some of the best wizards out there are half blood or even muggleborns!" Scorpius shouted, outraged at such antiquated beliefs.

"Yes, it has been shown that those….ideas have no true foundation. That is my point. Your grandfather grew up in a different world than you, Scorpius. He was ingrained with those beliefs, along with many similar traditions, and he taught them to me. Such customs were commonplace well into my youth. Your mother and I have taught you differently, but you may find that when you go to Hogwarts, there will be some people that still uphold these opinions. " Draco warned.

"You don't _still_ believe stuff like that do you Dad?" Scorpius asked, concerned. Draco looked at his son and then looked to the tiled floor of the drawing room that they were sitting in.

"No, I'd definitely have to say that blood has nothing to do with what makes a great wizard." He said with a tinge of guilt in his voice that Scorpius didn't understand. Draco cleared his throat.

"Anyway, what I'm trying to explain is that I was not always the man I am now and I don't want it to come as a shock when you find I'm not very well remembered at Hogwarts. " He said letting his shoulder sag a little.

"I don't care what anyone says, you're an outstanding wizard. And I'm proud to be a Malfoy. Just you wait; soon, I'll make everyone else see it's a great family to be a part of too." Scorpius declared as his eyes bore back to his acceptance letter with a look of determination on his face.

"I'm sure you will son, I'm sure you will." Draco smiled and put a comforting hand over his son's shoulder, feeling prouder than ever before.

* * *

><p>"See Hermione, I told you she wasn't squib." Ron jibed as he hung Rose's acceptance letter to Hogwarts on the fridge. Muggle magnets were the just the most fascinating devices.<p>

"Ronald, honestly. I never thought you were a squib dear. Not that there would be anything wrong if you were, but I …."

"It's alright Mum. I know he's just taking the mickey. If there's anyone you have to worry about being a squib it's Hugo. "Rose said, slyly looking over at her brother.

"I'm not a squib!" Hugo said and at that exact moment the plate in front of Rose shattered.

"Rose, don't tease your brother. We are well aware darling. In fact I think that's the tenth plate this week alone. You need to work on your temper young man." Hermione said sternly as she cleaned up the broken pieces of ceramic in front of her daughter, but she couldn't stop the proud up turn of her lips as she cleaned up the evidence of her son's growing abilities. Rose simply sighed and went to fetch another plate for her breakfast.

"So what house do you think you're going to be in Rosie?" Hugo asked. His magical outburst forgotten, as such occasions had become regular occurrences in the past few months.

"I'm not sure." Rose said truthfully, sitting down once again at the table.

"Well she'll be in Gryffindor of course, just like rest of the family." Ron said confidently, not even bothering to look up from his copy of 'Quidditch Weekly'.

"Right." Rose said, looking much less confident than her father.

"Not that there is anything with the other houses, of course. Right dear?" Hermione said, tersely looking at her husband after noticing the nervous look on her daughter's face. Hermione gave a swift kick to Ron's leg as her question seemed to go unnoticed.

"Ow! What was- unhg um, I mean of course there is nothing _wrong _with the other houses exactly. Except Slytherin. No real Weasley will ever be in Slytherin. Thank you dear." Ron said as he set down his magazine in order to eat the food his wife had set before him.

"Albus might be in Slytherin. He's been freaking out about it since James got his letter two years ago. But then again, he's technically a Potter, so I guess it wouldn't matter." Hugo said.

"He's a Weasley, and he'll be in Gryffindor with Rosie and everyone else, nothing to worry about." Ron said, defending his nephew. Hugo let the subject fall as he dug in to meal, just as true Weasley would.

The family continued breakfast and Rose smiled, feeling much more confident about her future place in Gryffindor.

* * *

><p>The Hogwarts express pulled out of King's Cross at exactly eleven in the morning just as it had every year prior.<p>

Rose sat in a compartment with only her brand new quarter-Kneazle cat Orwell, or as her brother nicknamed 'furball', as company. Albus had been quickly taken under his brother and cousins' wings and was in another compartment with them, probably buying everything the trolley had to offer. Orwell snuggled up on Rose's lap, burying his already flat face in her school required skirt. Rose petted her dark grey, fluffy companion absent mindedly as she looked out her window at the countryside passing by.

Rose was soon drawn out of her head by a knock on the compartment door. She looked over to see a nervous looking boy, also already dressed in his uniform, standing at the door. She recognized him immediately.

At the girl's acknowledgment, Scorpius opened the door and stuck his head in.

"Do you mind?" He asked looking pointedly at the empty seat across from Rose. Rose hesitated for a second, recalling the words her father had spoken to her earlier, but soon shook her head.

"No, I don't mind." Rose said, and as Scorpius came in, she resumed looking out the window.

Scorpius examined the girl sitting across from him. He could tell from her hair alone that she was a Weasley. They were all over the news these days. With Ginny Weasley Potter writing in the Daily Prophet, and George and Ron Weasley running the best joke shop in the entire wizarding world, it was hard to escape their name. He didn't know much about the girl before him though.

She had to be a first year like him, since she had no house badge on her uniform. Seeing another student already dressed for school comforted Scorpius. He didn't want to be classified as a nerd right off the bat.

The silence was starting to get to Rose, and Scorpius' staring was not helping matters. She knew who he was but she decided to introduce herself anyway, as a way to break the ice. She turned from the window and offered her hand out.

"I'm Rose by the way, Rose Weasley." Rose greeted.

"Scorpius …uh…Malfoy." Scorpius responded nervously, accepting Rose's hand quickly and then pulled his hand back and stuffed it in his robes.

"I know." Rose said plainly. "My dad pointed you out at the platform."

"Oh." Scorpius said, not quite sure what to do with this information.

"He told me I have to beat you at all the tests."

"Why?" Scorpius had no idea why Rose's father, a man Scorpius had never met, wanted Rose to compete with him.

"I'm not really sure. I think it's because he hate's your dad and wants to prove that he did a better job as a father than yours did, or something. It doesn't really matter though. Their past is their issue. I have other things to focus on than my dad's vendetta." Rose said, and then continued.

"I'm going to be the first girl ever to be on the Quidditch team their first year. My Uncle Harry was the first boy to do it. He was a seeker for **G**ryffindor for six years. My dad was a keeper for two years for Gryffindor as well. My uncles and aunts were on the team too. My mum hates flying, so she never plays. I….I'm sorry I keep talking. It's so quiet here. All my cousins are in other compartments with their friends. I guess I'll just have to wait until I'm sorted until I have friends, or at least ones that aren't related to me." Rose finished, she then blushed and began petting what Scorpius just realized was a cat sitting in her lap.

He was a little taken back. He had never heard someone talk so much and so fast. It seemed that once Rose started speaking, she just kept going.

"It's okay. I understand, I don't have any friends yet either. I was homeschooled before now and people rarely stopped by the house while I was growing up. I only have two older cousins but they both go to Durmstrang. I want to be on the Quidditch team too. My dad was a seeker." Scorpius said.

"Well Gryffindor has an opening for a beater and keeper this year. Hufflepuff is full, but Ravenclaw needs a seeker and Slytherin will need a beater, seeker, and keeper. Lots of players graduated last year. My cousins James, Louis, Fred, Victoire, and Roxanne are all on the team. It's practically my whole family. Last year Teddy Lupin was captain and keeper, but him and Cole Jordon, the beater, graduated. Roxanne is captain now."

"So what house do you think you'll be in?" Scorpius asked curiously, when Rose stopped to take a breath.

"Gryffindor." She answered confidently. "Just like the rest of my family. You'll probably be in Slytherin like your family." She stated plainly. It wasn't said as an insult, but Scorpius still felt a bit hurt at the assumption.

Despite, Slytherin's reputation having improved in the last few decades, no muggleborns had been sorted into it and the other houses still tended to be a little wary of its students.

"My mother was in Ravenclaw and my dad often says I got my smarts from her. I could be sorted there." Scorpius said, defensively.

"Oh, I guess so. We will just have to wait and see." Rose said. The conversation died off after that for a few minutes. Scorpius started the conversation next.

"So what's his name? Your, uh, cat." He asked.

"Orwell."

"Oh. Like the writer?" Scorpius questioned. This surprised Rose; after what she'd heard about the Malfoy's it was strange that he knew about the muggle writer.

"Yes."

"Well it's a good name for a smart cat. My parents bought me an owl for school. He's easily distracted but sweet enough. His name's Hobbs, like the tiger in those American comics." Scorpius smiled, quite proud of himself. He felt as though he related well to Calvin, whose only friend was his stuffed tiger that would come to life and go on adventures with him.

"Oh. I've never seen them." Rose said. Scorpius' smile drooped a little, but then his eyes lit up as he looked out the window.

"Look! It's the castle!" He shouted and both he and Rose jumped up to the window. Orwell was quite disturbed but still landed on his feet and then hopped up to the seat and curled back into a ball.

"It's so big!" Rose said in wonder. No matter how many times she had read _Hogwarts, A History_, the true size of the place was never captured. Now, as she looked out over the lake and saw the castle for the first time, Roses' previous doubts began to creep back up. She had so many expectations to live up to. So many people she had to make proud. Hogwarts had never seemed so daunting.

Scorpius was speechless. There it was, his home for the next seven years. This was the place where the Malfoy name would once again be something to be proud of. This was where he would change everything.


	2. Chapter 2

_A/N: Disclaimer: I don't own anything except the multitude of OC's never mentioned by Rowling, but none the less taking part in her masterpiece of a world. Also, I am looking for a Beta for this story if anyone is interested. I hope to publish a chapter once a week and it would help the security of that if someone could edit each chapter. I've never had a beta before so I don't really know how the process works. Feel free to pm me with any interest in the position. Thanks to who ever is reading, it feels good to write again, especially when I actually have an idea of where this is going and all interest shown further motivates me to figure out each and every detail. Thanks again!_

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><p>"First years, follow me please!" Neville called out the to numerous eleven and ten year olds before him. "Alright, you will be going into the Great Hall where you will be sorted into your houses. This sorting can have a great impact on your future so it should not be taken lightly. The others in your house will become like your family. You will go to class with those in your year, you will eat with them, and you will share dormitories with them. Lastly, your housemates may become your greatest assets or perhaps liabilities as you will join them in competing against the other houses for points. These points can win you the house cup, which is a title of honor that is envied by every house. Now remember, once you are sorted you may sit with the other members of your house. Your names will be called out alphabetically." Neville explained.<p>

As head of Gryffindor house, and also the most junior member of the staff at Hogwarts he was given the job of preparing the first years for sorting, since the other professors had all declined. This, however, he did not view as a chore because there were many children whom Neville knew personally this year. There was Albus Potter, Rose Weasley, the Scamander twins, and even his own daughter Amelia. Neville believed that seeing a familiar face would help ease the nerves he knew many first years were under. It did seem to be working on Albus Potter, who waved at Neville with a large smile on his face. Neville winked back as he ushered the first years by.

Seeing Neville did nothing to comfort Rose though. If anything it made her even more nervous. He was just another person who Rose thought she had to impress. He knew how smart her mother was and how funny and loyal her father was, and he would likely expect such characteristics from her.

"Annabelle Finnigan!" Rose's eyes shot up as she realized the sorting had already begun. "Gryffindor!" The hat shouted after mere moments. Rose's palms began to sweat, but she took a few calming breaths as there were many more students left before they got to 'Weasley'.

Scorpius examined the Great Hall as he waited for his name to be called. Each round of applause did nothing to distract his observations. The room seemed to go on forever, with four humungous tables evenly spread out within it. The Slytherin table seemed to be far less occupied than the other houses'. Scorpius knew that students had some input into what house they were in, and he believed that most tried to avoid Slytherin and the stigma that came with it. Gryffindor was surely the largest house, although Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw didn't fall too much behind. Already, the Ravenclaws had five new first years from the sorting.

"Damian Flint!" Scorpius looked up at that name. Marcus Flint had been the Slytherin quidditch captain when his father was on the team. Damian and his parents had visited his house a few times over the years. The two boys had never seen each other to become friends, but their father's got on well enough since they both had to survive in a world hell bent on punishing them for the actions they had committed as youths. "Slytherin!" The hat announced and despite its size the cheers from the Slytherin table sounded throughout the room as they greeted their first new student.

The next student, Tess Goyle was also sorted into Slytherin. After her was Professor Longbottom's own daughter, which meant Scorpius would be soon to follow. Amelia was sorted into Hufflepuff, just like her mother Hannah had been, and Professor Longbottom looked quite proud. The girl slipped off the stool and smiled as she practically skipped to the Hufflepuff table. She was quickly followed by Ryan Macmillan.

"Scorpius Malfoy!" Scorpius' stomach dropped. Oddly enough the hall did not become silent like he had expected. Maybe his father was wrong about what other students thought about the Malfoy name. Scorpius looked back until his eyes landed on Rose. She was starting at the stool ahead of him but looked a little lost in her own head. Scorpius turned back and slid up on the stool as the hat was placed over his head.

"Ah a Malfoy, it's about time. So where to put you. You've got your mother's brains that's for sure, but your father's resourcefulness as well. Definitely a determined and clever young man. Hmm… a hard decision. You would do well in Slytherin; you don't have to worry so much. However, Ravenclaw would suit you as well. Hmm….Ahh but then you wouldn't be able to prove yourself in the way you desire. No, Ravenclaw wouldn't work for that. Gryffindor would help you…but perhaps not. Your peers may not be as accepting there. No it's best if you go somewhere else. …..I know where you belong! Slytherin!" The hat shouted after what seemed like an hour of debate.

Scorpius let out his breath that he didn't realize he had been holding. Unexpectedly, he felt relieved to be in Slytherin. It was the right decision. The other Slytherin's shouted their greeting but as he walked toward his house he heard words that felt as though they physically slapped him.

"Big shocker. Future death eater right there if you ask me, just like his father." Scorpius' face lit up like a flame in embarrassment and some anger. He wasn't sure who had said it but from the harsh stare's he was getting from James Potter, he thought he has an idea.

Scorpius sat down with the other Slytherins and received many pats on the back and congratulatory words. The feelings of acceptance overtook him and he couldn't help but give a small smile. He actually felt at home.

After Scorpius, Iris Nott joined the Slytherins. Then, it was Albus Potter's turn. Here, Scorpius noted enviously, the hall did quiet down, just as it had two years earlier when James Potter was sorted. Everyone was anxious to know where Harry Potter's clone would be sorted.

The hat seemed to barely grace his head when it shouted out, "Gryffindor!". The cheers from Gryffindor House were immense as they welcomed one of their own. Once it was over though, the sorting continued as usual.

However, Potter's sorting was followed by an unexpected turn when Lorcan Scamander was sorted into Ravenclaw while his identical brother Lysander was sorted into Gryffindor. Both boys looked quite dejected when they found out they would be separated for the first time in their lives.

"It's not that uncommon you know, identical twin being separated." Scorpius looked to his right to see that Iris Nott was speaking to him. "My dad said that in his year two girls were separated too. He said it was because the hat not only puts the student in the best house for them, but it also tries to get the same amount of girls and boys in each house. In fact the Weasley twins, Fred and George, were the only recorded identical twins to be in the same house in all of Hogwarts history. The amount of boys and the amount of girls in each house is always the same. The amount of students across houses usually varies though. Slytherin has always had the least amount of students, because it's so selective."

Scorpius found that quite strange. As he observed the first years that had already been sorted he noted that Ravenclaw now had twelve first years, more than any other house so far. It also had six boys and six girls. Scorpius examined the remaining students to be sorted. If what Iris was saying turned out to be true, the rest of the sorting would turn out to be very eventful.

As Jemma Thomas slid off the stool and went off to join the other Gryffindors, Rose Weasley's heart began to race. This was it, the moment that would decide her fate for the next seven years, and many more years after that.

"Rose Weasley!" Her name rang out and Rose slowly approached the stool. She gingerly moved onto the seat and waited anxiously for the verdict.

"Ah another Weasley. Will there ever be year without one of your lot? Well there was that decade after the battle without Weasleys….Hmm…So where to put _you_, that's a tricky question. You don't even know where you want to go I see. Oh no, you know where you believe you _should_ go, even where you think it would be _okay_ to go, but not where you belong. Surrounded by family every day of your life, always in the shadows of your cousins or even parents. You love them, but don't want to be them. Yes…your father had similar struggles. Ah a pang of fear I feel…oh that's interesting." The hat went on and on, Rose felt. It was as if it was reading her every thought and feeling. She didn't think it had spent as much time on any other student. "You will do great things Rose Weasley. Well, I know where you belong. Better be Slytherin!" The hat shouted out.

As the words rang out Rose's heart stopped. The great hall grew silent. Neville took a moment to regain his senses but then shook himself out of it and took the hat from Rose's head.

Rose looked over to the Gryffindor table and saw the shocked expressions on all her cousins' faces. Out of the two younger members, Rose was not the one they doubted would be in Gryffindor. Even if she wasn't, Ravenclaw was seen as much more plausible than Slytherin.

Scorpius saw the terrified look on Rose's face and knew he had to do something. The silence of the room was eating away at him and he knew it was probably much worse for Rose. Their parents may have issues, but from their brief meeting, Rose seemed like a perfectly nice girl and didn't deserve to not feel welcome in her own house.

"Woohoo! We got Weasley!" Scorpius stood up and shouted as he clapped his hands together loudly. Everyone's eyes turned to him and he could feel the heat rise to his face, but he kept on cheering. He nudged Iris next to him and after a moment she stood up and started to clap with him. Not wanting to feel left out Tess and Damian joined in. Soon enough, the other Slytherins also began to cheer just as they had for all the other first years.

Rose stood shocked in the front of the room. Neville gave her a gentle nudge.

"It's all right Rose, go on. Sit with your house, they're waiting for you." He whispered. Rose slowly moved toward the Slytherin table and hesitantly sat down next to Scorpius.

Neville called out the next name and made the sorting ceremony move on without any further ado. The Slytherins quieted down as the next student was sorted.

Rose looked up at Scorpius. She didn't smile, but the gratitude could be seen brightly in her eyes. "Thank you." She almost whispered.

"Anytime Rose. That's what housemates are for, right?" He said with a grin and he stood up to cheer as the last student was sorted into Slytherin.

* * *

><p>After dinner, Rose and her housemates followed the prefect to their common room in the dungeon. She found the dark green walls to be more calming than creepy. It reminded her of a cave she had explored with Albus near Shell Cottage. The plush green and silver furniture reminded her of the Herbology section in Flourish and Blotts. Out one of the green windows Rose swore she saw a dark figure move by but in a blink of an eye it was gone. The room as a whole was nothing like the dark and dreary place her father and uncle had talked about.<p>

"Alright first years, the boys dormitories are on the left down the hall, First Years are in the farthest room at the end of the hall. Girl dormitories are down that stairwell and are the last room to the right. The password for the next two weeks needed to get in to the common room is Nigellus. It will change every two weeks and the new password will be posted there on the memo board. Don't forget the password or you will be sleeping in the hall. Professor McPherson, who teaches Defense Against the Dark Arts is our head of house. Any questions? No? Alright, your things have already been brought to your rooms, your schedules are there as well. Have a good day." Georgina Harper finished her job and left the first years to their own devices in the common room.

"Well I claim the bed closest to the window!" Ralph Zabini shouted as he raced to the boy dormitories. Scorpius smiled and then raced after him.

"He can have it. I think I'm going to be seas sick." Damian grumbled as he followed slowly behind.

"Well come on girls, let's see the room." Iris said as she went to the spiral stairs. Rose and Tess followed.

The room was much larger than Rose had expected. For only three girls it was huge. Rose had always had her own room, since it was only her and Hugo growing up, but her room was much smaller than this. The room was round with five windows, one on each side of every bed. Every bed was large with green velvet drapes surrounding them and had a trunk at the end. A small table stood the left of each bed with about two meters between each bed.

"Can I have the bed farthest from the door?" Tess asked cautiously. She was a small skinny little girl with straight dark brown hair and eyes. She had thin square frame glasses that she was constantly pushing back up the bridge of her nose. She reminded Rose a bit of a mouse with her twitchy nose and rapidly blinking eyes.

"It doesn't matter to me. Rose?" Iris said.

"Huh? Oh, no I don't care." Rose said.

"Alright it's decided then. Tess can have that bed, Rose can have the middle and I'll take the door." Iris declared and walked over to her newly claimed bed and hopped on to it.

Rose moved her trunk that had been placed in the middle of the room toward her new bed and began to unpack.

"So we're all going to be friends right? I mean it's only us three here and if two of us were friends, well the other would be left out. That's not fair at all. We're not like the other houses that have five or even eight girls per year. We have to stick together so that we can win points and beat everyone else. Slytherin hasn't won the house cup in almost a decade. That's just unacceptable." Iris said as she unpacked. Rose rather liked the girl already and couldn't help but smile.

Rose could see that Iris was a take charge type of girl who wouldn't let anyone boss her around. She had the leadership qualities of a true Slytherin through and through. Her curly black hair and dark green eyes matched the Slytherin dungeon as well, both color and aura.

"Sounds like a good idea to me." Tess said.

"Me too." Rose agreed.

"Alright well I'll be back, I've got to write my parents and tell them what house I'm in. My dad will probably be happy that I'm in the same house as him. My mum's not a witch at all so this whole experience is exciting for her." Iris said as she walked out of the room with parchment in hand.

Rose's stomach dropped as she realized what she still had to do. A sense of dread filled her as she thought of her father's disappointment when he heard that she was in Slytherin.

As if knowing she needed it, Orwell appeared out of nowhere and jumped up onto Rose's lap burrowing into her skirt. Rose immediately felt better with her cat there, but it didn't stop her stomach from feeling like a ball of lead.

"You have a cat?" Tess said excitedly. "Can I pet it? My mum is allergic to cats so we can't have any in the house." She explained.

"Sure. His name is Orwell." Rose said as Tess came over and began petting the cat gently.

"I wanted a cat, but my dad got me an owl instead." Tess said. She looked up after a few minutes and adjusted her glasses. "Your parents saved my dad's life you know." Tess said.

Rose was surprised. She knew that a lot happened during the battle but never knew about before.

"My parents never mentioned him. They don't like to talk about the battle much." Rose said.

"It's alright, my dad doesn't like to either. My mum went to school with them too, but was a few years behind so she didn't know your parents all that well. She said that after the battle he was a lot different. It probably had a lot to do with his friend dying. Mum said he used to be a bully in school but after that day he was a lot nicer. She said if it wasn't for your parents saving him, in more ways than one, they likely would have never gotten together." She said as she went to her own trunk and pulled out her Slytherin tie and robes.

"I'm surprised that you were sorted into Slytherin, Rose." Tess said as she got changed.

"You aren't the only one." Rose said grimly as she too took out her new tie and ran her fingers over it cautiously.

"It'll be fine though. Iris seems nice and Scorpius seems to be friendly too. We met briefly over the years, me and him, but were never very close. Are you two friends?" Tess asked.

"No. We just met on the train."

"Well it must have been some meet then. I don't know anyone who would stand up in the great hall like that for me. The whole school looking at him and staring like that." Rose bit her lip as she remembered what had happened.

"Yeah, it was very nice of him to do that." Rose said as she slipped the tie over her head and pulled it tight. It felt somewhat like a noose.

"Well I'm off to go and find my classrooms. I don't want to get lost on the first day. Do you want to come with me?" Tess asked as she turned around, looking like any other Slytherin.

Rose knew she had to write her parents soon. They would be wondering what house she was in and how she was doing, as long as one of her cousins hadn't written home already. In fact, Rose thought, there was a pretty good chance they already knew. Giving them, and by them she meant her dad, time to cool down, was probably best.

"Sure I'll come." Rose said as she quickly changed her robes and followed her new friend out of their room.


	3. Chapter 3

_**A/N:** Alright this should be the last update until next weekend. I would like to thank my beta **Maleday** who helped me polish this chapter up and make it flow a lot better than it did before. Thanks to all who are reading, I hope this next addition makes you want to continue!_

_**Disclaimer:** JK Rowling apparently hates canon so does that mean we all have permission to change the story now? No? Ah well...I don't own any canonical characters but the rest are all mine._

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><p>"Wow, look at this place! It's just like my dad described it." Ralph exclaimed as he looked around the room in awe. The room was an exact replica of the girls' dormitories except it was square rather than round.<p>

"My dad didn't mention it's like being on a boat." Damian said, his face looking rather green.

"Are we in the same room all seven years?" Scorpius asked, looking quite pleased with the arrangement. The room itself was quite similar to the one he had at home, despite lacking his multiple posters for the Bulgarian National Quidditch team. There were three large poster beds in the room with each boys trunk in the middle. Every bed was against a separate wall, giving the boys plenty of space

"Yep, and wherever the seventh years leave behind is where the first years go." Ralph explained.

"Ugh...I think I'm going to be sick." Damian said as he rushed off to the adjoining toilet. The movement of water out the windows was making his stomach churn.

Ralph rolled his eyes at the other boy. "What a duffer, ain't he?" Ralph said without looking up for confirmation.

Scorpius looked to the where Damian had gone off to. He didn't know the boy well enough, and he doubted Ralph did either, to warrant an insult so soon. Scorpius suspected that he would not get along with Ralph Zabini.

Ralph's parents, Blaise and Pansy, had both been school friends with Scorpius' father but they had gone down different paths after the war. Blaise and Pansy had gotten married three years after the war ended and it was rumored that it had been an arranged marriage. As Blaise went on to work for various quidditch teams around the world, Pansy became an Obliviator, intent on keeping the magical world secret from Muggles.

"So Scorpius, you have a thing for the Weasley girl?" Ralph asked smirking a bit as he unpacked.

"What? No! Why would you think that?" Scorpius spluttered, as he could feel his face turning red.

"Well I would never embarrass myself in front of everyone like you did for just any bird." Ralph said, contemptuously.

"Oh, uh...You know her family.… Her getting sorted to Slytherin shocked everyone…The silence was killing me, and she was just sitting there… I…I was starving. I had to do something to get her off that stool so the feast could start." Scorpius said trying to come up with a believable excuse for his actions.

"Yeah, sure. That's why you did it." Ralph scoffed, obviously not believing him. "But you're right about one thing. It sure was unexpected for her to be in Slytherin. The standards of this place sure have dropped since the days our parents were here, right mate?" Ralph jibed.

"What do you mean by that?" Scorpius asked. If anything, Hogwarts standards had rose considerably. More and more wizards were coming to Hogwarts every year and places like Durmstrang and Beauxbatons only lost students.

"Well she's half-blood for one, which is disgusting in and of itself, but her father can hardly be considered a pureblood, if you ask me. Filthy blood traitor and mudblood, the both of them," Ralph sneered.

"What's blood got to do with anything? Great wizards come from all over. Just because her mother is muggleborn doesn't mean she's not a good witch. In fact her mother has done exceptional things for the Wizarding world!" Scorpius defended. It seemed as though his dad was right after all; some wizards still held really barmy prejudices about muggleborns.

"You don't actually believe that do you Scorpius?" Damian asked, shocked as he came out from the bathroom.

"Of course I do. The whole blood status stuff is complete rubbish. If you have any magic in you at all, you have just as much ability as any other witch or wizard. In fact, muggleborns may even be better than purebloods. Muggles themselves are some of the most resourceful people out there. After all, they've made some genius inventions since they don't have any magic to do things for them." Scorpius said, expressing thoughts he had never voiced before. As accepting as his father seemed, he knew that saying such things still wouldn't go over well.

"Better than purebloods? You're out of your mind Malfoy! All that mudblood Granger did was make it illegal for us to have house elves and let animals get jobs that proper wizards should have. I don't even know how you got into Slytherin. Obviously that dirty old hat's magic has been tampered with. You're no Slytherin! You shouldn't even be able to call yourself a wizard. I bet your grandfather would disown you if he could hear you know. Come on Flint let's leave this mudblood lover alone." Ralph said disgustedly as he stomped from the room. Damian followed behind, looking back nervously at Scorpius before he shuffled out of the room and shut the door behind him.

"Ugh! Grr!" Scorpius growled as he kicked his trunk repeatedly. This was not how he wanted his first day at school to go. He knew he didn't have to become best friends with his roommates, but he also didn't think it would be this hard to even get along with them.

Scorpius couldn't believe that his father was right. It was unimaginable that some people actually believed blood had any effect on who you could be and what you could accomplish. Scorpius kicked his trunk so hard the lock snapped and it opened up. In a fit of anger he reached in and grabbed his clothes, throwing them around the room. He was so upset that he didn't notice the figures standing in the doorway.

Attempting to calm down, Scorpius stood still breathing heavily and watched his clothes settle randomly on to the floor all over the room. He jumped at the sound of a voice behind him.

"Well that's one way to unpack." Scorpius turned around to see Tess Goyle and Rose Weasley staring into the room.

At the sight of the two girls, Scorpius could feel his face burn up. His mother was often reprimanding him for his temper and getting caught in a fit was rather mortifying.

"I Uh…" Scorpius tried to stumble for an excuse that would explain the complete disarray that surrounded him.

"It's alright we heard what happened." Rose said.

"You weren't exactly quiet." Tess explained.

"Yeah, well I…"Scorpius rubbed his neck nervously. He wasn't sure if he was more worried over what Tess Goyle, a pureblood, thought of his little tirade, or more humiliated by the thought of Rose hearing him praise her parents.

"You should just ignore Flint, Scorpius. He's just …a jerk." Rose said seeming to struggle for an appropriate insult. Scorpius couldn't help but smile a little at her attempt.

"You're right anyway. Blood status is all rubbish. Ralph is just upset that he got rejected from Durmstrang, where his parents wanted him to go. I heard his father calling him a 'no good simpleton' on the platform. His mother didn't even defend him. In fact, she said it was a good thing he was a Zabini and not a Parkinson so that he couldn't bring her family name down." Tess explained.

Her words did make Scorpius feel a little bad for the guy, but not that much. Scorpius saw in Ralph's eyes that he believed to the bottom of his heart in all that blood purity stuff, and he would bet ten galleons that he wasn't the only pureblood in Slytherin that did.

"His situation doesn't allow for him to be such a purist git." Scorpius voiced.

"No, it doesn't, but it is only the first day. I bet after a few weeks away from his parents, Flint will better understand how the world is now." Rose said.

"Maybe." Scorpius wasn't all that convinced that Ralph's parents made him everything he was. Some people were just born prats.

"Well Rose and I were going to find our classes for tomorrow so we wouldn't look like all the other first years. Did you want to come? Perhaps after you finish….unpacking." Tess offered.

Scorpius looked at the floor where his clothes and books were strewn all over the room. He bent down scoop it all up and then shoved it under his bed.

"Yeah, I'll come." Scorpius said after he finished cleaning up. Neither girl looked all that impressed. Rose rolled her eyes and muttered something under her breath that Scorpius thought sounded a bit like 'boys'.

"Alright, well we will start with the potions classroom since it's supposed to be here in the dungeon." Tess decided.

Scorpius and Rose nodded in their agreement and followed Tess's lead out. They all left the Slytherin dormitories and headed out to the halls of the dungeon.

"Scorpius, are you sure this is the right way back Scorpius?" Tess asked nervously. With no more classrooms to visit, they were trying to find their way back to the Slytherin common room.

"Yes, I'm sure. That painting said…he said the third staircase down and then a left after the second hallway." Scorpius stopped dead in his tracks. "Or was it the second staircase and the third hallway?" He questioned.

"Ugh Scorpius!" Rose cried out. She then proceeded to look at her watch. "Oh my god it's nearly ten o'clock. We've been out here for nearly three hours!"

"Well it's not my fault. I'm not the one who stopped to have a fifteen minute conversation with a ghost!" Scorpius yelled, frustrated.

"Sir Nicholas is a –" Rose began but was cut off.

"Oh it's Sir Nicholas is it? Why can't you just call him Nearly-Headless Nick like everyone else?" He scoffed.

"Because that's not what-"

"Both of you stop it!" Tess shouted." They both quieted immediately and turned to look at the girl. Neither one even knew if she had anything other than an inside voice and was shocked at her loud volume.

Tess huffed after she had gotten their attention. "Listen," She began at a much lower decibel, "We have to be back in the common room and into bed by ten or we will be out after curfew. That means we only have five minutes to find the dungeon."

Scorpius looked in front of him to where the staircase was shifting, again. His shoulders sagged.

"That's not bloody likely."

"Surely we wouldn't get disciplined for getting lost? Why don't we just find Professor Longbottom and explain the situation." Rose suggested. She was tired after the long day and from walking all over the castle and just wanted to crawl into bed.

"Don't you mean Uncle Neville?" Scorpius sneered. It seemed that Rose was not the only one who was feeling the effects of being up so late.

"Look!" Tess shouted and Rose and Scorpius' eyes both followed to where her finger was pointing.

There, at the far end of the hallway was a scraggly brown and grey cat. Its eyes were red and they stared steadily at the three students.

"Is that Mrs. Norris?" Scorpius asked.

"Impossible! Mrs. Norris would be over thirty years old if that were true. My dad said she looked like she was on the brink of death when he went to school." Rose replied.

"I don't know. It looks awfully like Filch's cat." Tess said.

"Students out of bed!" came a triumphant cry, "See? I told you Mrs. Norris knows where there are miscreants about, Septima! You see now. Little Slytherins very far from their beds." Filch said as he came up behind the cat followed by Professor Vector.

Professor Vector was the Arithmancy teacher for third years and above and was known to be exceedingly strict. She had just recently taken on being the Ravenclaw head of house after Filius Flitwick retired just the year before.

Rose walked over to the professor and Caretaker.

"We're not out of bed on purpose! We were trying to find all our classes for tomorrow and we got lost." She tried to explain. Scorpius opened his mouth as he started to also offer up explanations, but he was silenced as Professor Vector raised her hand.

"No excuses. Rules are rules and they are made to be followed. Curfew was explained to you earlier today and there is no reason for you to have forgotten so early. Detention, tomorrow after dinner." She decried and Filch smiled in glee.

"But we just got lost!" Scorpius shouted. Tess stayed silent, trying to understand how she was already in trouble.

"No excuses, Mr. Malfoy. I won't say it again. Professor Hagrid needs help moving his,…things, into his new classroom on the seventh floor. You three will help him. That should help you learn your way around the school," Professor Vector decided, "Now follow Mr. Filch back to your dormitories and get to bed. I won't take house points now, but if I hear you've missed classes tomorrow because you've overslept, I won't be so lenient." She moved down the hallway, her robes swishing in a manner that made it seem as though she were floating.

"Alright let's go." Filch croaked, all previous happiness gone. He was back to his sour self.

"Detention for getting lost." Rose whispered under her breath, completely dumfounded.

Scorpius looked over at her. He was used to being punished for the smallest of things, but he could tell Rose was not. She was probably never grounded before in her life.

"Aw look on the bright side Rosie, no house points will be taken so no will ever have to know you got detention. You're family friend with Professor Hagrid, you can just say you're helping him out from the goodness of your heart. No harm done." He said somewhat sarcastically.

Rose looked up, saw his smile and knew he wasn't being mean. What he said was true too, no one had to know she had gotten detention. However, one thing he said did strike a nerve.

"Don't call me Rosie. It's Rose." She said sternly but she couldn't help hide the small upturn up her lips.

Tess just rolled her eyes while she walked behind the two as they playfully bickered for the rest of the walk back.

Tess and Rose tried to quietly sneak into their room once they got back. However as soon as they shut the door behind them the lights turned on and all the blackness was washed away.

"There you two are! I've been back for hours and no one knew where you went. I even asked the boys and they said they had no idea where Scorpius was either. What's up with that?" Iris asked, standing next to her bed with her hand on the chain of the lamp. She looking much like a parent waiting for their teen after a date.

"We went to find our classrooms for tomorrow." Tess explained.

"And then we got lost." Rose left it like that, thinking that perhaps she could get away without anyone knowing they got detention.

"Oh." Iris said, seemingly placated. "Well, I was in the Owelry! It's amazing in there. There are so many types of owls and so many colors. They are such majestic creatures! It also wasn't as crowded I thought it would be. I guess not that many first years want to write home so soon. Oh and I met your cousin Rose! He's kinda hot." She said slyly.

"Which cousin?" Rose asked, although she had an idea. Not because of the 'hot' comment of course, just from who she thought might've been in the Owelry.

"Albus, of course! Oh if only he were in our house!" She moaned as she fell onto her bed. Something crinkled beneath her.

"Right. Albus said to give this to you," Iris said, handing Rose a letter.

Rose took it nervously from her roommate's hand . She could see her name written in her mother's neat cursive on the front.

"I'm going to go read this in the lav." Rose said. Her roommates nodded in acknowledgment as they climbed into bed.

Once she was alone, Rose cautiously opened the envelope as if it were howler. She gingerly unfolded the letter and began to read.

Dear Rose,

I hope you are settling in nicely at school. I'm sure you've made plenty of new friends already, but be sure to make time for your family as well. Just because you're not in the same house doesn't mean you can't stay close.

Now, to say we were shocked to hear about your placement in Slytherin would be an understatement. Your father and I thought for sure you would be in Gryffindor or at the very least Ravenclaw. I suppose you can never tell with that hat, but perhaps it saw something no one else did. No matter, I know you will do excellent in all of your classes no matter your house. Just like you're Uncle Harry had told Albus, great wizards and witches have come from all the houses.

Albus did mention that you have a better chance of getting on the quidditch team this year, just like you wanted. Just do be careful though. Quidditch is a very rough sport and I know that you're an excellent flyer but the matches at school aren't the same as the ones you've played in at the Burrow. I really don't want you to end up in the infirmary all because of a game.

Your father will write soon. We both love you dearly and can't wait to hear how you're doing. Stay out of trouble and please write your brother, he misses you.

Love, Mum

The letter was short but Rose could read between the lines. Her mother was disappointed, but she wasn't angry. The disappointment hurt Rose more than anger would have. And it would only get worse if she ever found out that Rose had gotten detention before classes had even started.

Her father, on the other hand, was devastated. All the stories he had told her for years about living in Gryffindor Tower and staying up late in the common room were something they could no longer share. Ron usually wrote her even if she stayed with Lily for just the weekend, and knowing that he couldn't write now was crushing to Rose. She knew logically that she hadn't done anything wrong, but logic couldn't stop the pang in her heart as she reread the letter.

Her parents felt disconnected from her, and that was something Rose didn't know how to fix.


	4. Chapter 4

_A/N: Thanks for all still reading and a great shout out to Maleday who seriously fixed this up. I'd really like to hear everyone's thoughts on this chapter since it really sets up for where the story is going. Thanks to all who enjoy, until next time- Ambruary_

* * *

><p>"Well that was a complete waste of time." Rose said as the Slytherins and Hufflepuffs exited the classroom.<p>

Scorpius turned to look at her, his eyebrows raised in an expression of mock surprise.

"Wow. I never thought I'd see the day when Rose Weasley called school a waste of time." He gasped sarcastically. Rose rolled her eyes.

"You've only know me for two days, Scorpius. That's not enough time to make such assumptions. Besides, History of Magic _is_ a waste of time when we start with the Battle of Hogwarts. I know more about that than our textbook." Rose scoffed.

"Not all of our parents are famous war heroes, Weasley." Ralph sneered, coming up behind her.

"Yeah." Damian said from behind Ralph. The boys pushed through the throng of students, shoving Rose and Scorpius as they walked by.

"What a git." Scorpius growled.

"Well the professor didn't have to go after Ralph's mum like that." Tess protested. "Mentioning how she was the one who wanted to turn Harry Potter over to Voldemort was unnecessary."

"Yes, it was completely uncalled for. Professors these days should know that such behavior is utterly inappropriate for- Hey! Are you mocking me?" Rose stopped her tirade to glare at Scorpius who had been pretending to be her when she spoke.

Scorpius couldn't help but smirk and roll his eyes.

"You've only said nearly the same thing after each class." Scorpius pointed out. He then stopped, cracked his neck and placed his hand on his hip. His voice rang out at a much higher pitch than was natural for any eleven year old boy.

"'_Professor Trotter should_ _not have told Lorcan that he should ask his mother for help with Transfiguration!,' _or, and this is my personal favorite, '_Calling Ryan Macmillan the next Seamus Finnegan is preposterous! One exploding feather doesn't mean_- Ugh!" Scorpius was stopped as Rose elbowed him in the gut.

"I do not sound like that!" Rose shrieked. "Besides, how can you not think it's wrong for Professors to keep comparing us to our parents' generation?"

"Of course it's wrong, but they can't help it. They're star stuck. Just face it Rosie, you're famous. I'm just surprised no one has mentioned my father yet." Scorpius said with genuine astonishment.

"They wouldn't dare. In fact they haven't mentioned any of the Weasleys or Potters either. They stick with everyone else that the Prophet ignored." Tess grumbled darkly.

She was quite upset that every time she answered a question correctly or could perform a spell on the first try, the Professors seemed shocked. Once they knew she was the daughter of Gregory Goyle, they acted as if he were a complete idiot, and by default she would be too.

"Awe, lighten up you two. Look, we have flying next. That will be easy for all of us. I don't understand why they make it mandatory. They act as if we've never flown before now." Scorpius scoffed.

"I never have flown before." Tess said in complete seriousness.

"What?" Rose and Scorpius said in unison, stopping in shock.

"I haven't. My dad wouldn't let me on a broom. He said it was too dangerous and I would need to have lessons first." Tess explained.

The other two shuddered at the thought. To never experience the rush of being in the air with the wind whipping at your face hundreds of feet above the ground seemed unfathomable.

"Well let's go then." Scorpius said as he patted Tess on her shoulder encouragingly. "We can't let those ruddy Gryffindors get all the good brooms now can we?" He said as he walked briskly in front of the girls. Tess smiled and followed suit. Rose didn't budge.

"Gryffindors?" She asked in a quiet voice, but Scorpius heard her.

"What? You didn't know? We have flying with the Gryffindors. Looks like I'll finally be able to meet that cousin of yours that Iris was going on about." Scorpius smirked and then ran off down the stairs that would lead out to the training grounds. Tess followed after him at a much slower pace.

Rose too followed after a minute as she mentally prepared herself to see Albus for the first time since the sorting. Rose knew that Albus had been terrified of being sorted into Slytherin because of the dark implications that came along with it. She was afraid of how one of her closest cousins would see her, now that she had fallen into such a fate.

* * *

><p>"Hey Rose!" Albus waved as she came out onto the field. He was standing next to Lysander Scamander and Logan Wood.<p>

"Hi Albus." She greeted back cautiously. However, Albus's wide smile put her instantly at ease.

"I saved you a broom! We've been here for ten minutes. Transfiguration got out early." Albus explained, holding out a broom.

Rose was surprised by how normal Albus was acting, but she shook off the feeling and accepted the antiquated Firebolt.

"Got out early? We nearly missed lunch when we were in Transfiguration. I thought that old bat would never shut up." Scorpius said as he came up behind Rose carrying two brooms.

At this point, Albus did freeze up. It was one thing for his cousin to be in Slytherin, but it was a whole other matter to be friendly with a Malfoy. He wasn't quite sure how to respond to the boy who was part of a family his mother's side loathed.

"I got you a broom Rose, but I guess you already have one." Scorpius said. He looked over his shoulder and saw Ralph and Damian approaching. "Hey Damian! I got you a broom mate." Scorpius called out to the boy walking by.

"Uh….Thanks?" Damian took the broom and looked over it suspiciously as he walked away. Ralph gave him an odd look as well.

"Yeah, well, she had to let us out when Annabelle accidently lit her goblet on fire. The whole room smoked up. I uh…I'm Albus Potter by the way." Albus said, seeming to come out of his stupor.

"Oh, I know. I've heard all about you." Scorpius said with a smirk.

"Really? Well I guess Rose would have mentioned-" Albus started.

"No, not from Rose. From your girlfriend."

"I don't have a girlfriend." Albus said, a blush starting to creep up his neck.

"Hmm. That's interesting. Well you better tell Iris that mate, because I think she has the wrong idea." Scorpius said. His smirk getting wider at Albus's obvious discomfort. Scorpius found it so easy to taunt the boy who didn't seem to fight back.

"Oh come off it, Scorpius. Leave him alone." Rose chided, in defense of her cousin.

"Relax. I was just having fun. So you coming to our side or what?" Scorpius asked Rose. He cocked his head as he waited for a response.

It was at that moment that Rose noticed the visible divide among the students. All the Slytherin students, with the exception of Rose and Scorpius were in a small huddle by themselves. The Gryffindors were all lined up to the other side of the invisible barrier.

"I …" Rose stammered.

"What? I thought you would hang out with us, Rose. We only have flying together today and I won't see you again until tomorrow." Albus said, his hope written all over his face.

"Come on Rose, this is _flying_. We can't be giving away our secrets to the Gryffindors, now can we? We'll never make the house team if we do that. Besides, we have two classes with the Gryffindors tomorrow, you'll see each other plenty then." Scorpius said, giving Rose a gentle tug on the shoulder of her robes.

"I..I mean I just…" Rose hesitated as she tried to make up her mind. On the one hand she really did miss Albus and she hadn't seen him in a few days. On the other hand Scorpius was right. If she wanted to make the Slytherin quidditch team, flying side by side with a bunch of Gryffindors was probably not the best idea.

"You know, you don't have to put Rosie here on the spot. Why don't _you_ come over to _our_ side?" Scorpius offered.

"I don't think that's a good idea." Albus said as he looked pointedly over Scorpius's shoulder.

Rose followed Albus's gaze and saw Ralph and Damian glaring at the trio. Albus was right. He wouldn't be very well accepted with the Slytherins. However, Rose couldn't see herself with the Gryffindors either, not anymore.

"I'm sorry Al, but I-"Rose started, but was quickly pulled away by Scorpius when the Professor arrived.

"Moring class!" Madam Hooch shouted as she walked straight into the throng of students. They all quickly lined up, Slytherins on one side and Gryffindors on the other.

"Good morning, Madam Hooch!" The students all shouted in unison.

Madam Hooch's eyes went over the lines of students.

"No, this won't do at all. Potter and Finnegan, please join the other line. We'll need the lines even once we get you all up into the air. As long as everything goes as planned, we should be able to play a bit of catch." Madam Hooch ordered.

Albus and Anabelle looked at each other with reluctance and then slowly shuffled to the line with the six Slytherins. Albus stood next to Rose with Anabelle on his other side.

"Well look at that. Worked out for everyone then." Scorpius said from Rose's other side.

"Malfoy! No talking until the lesson is over. This may not be a classroom, but I am still your instructor here and I expect the same respect you give to any of your other professors. Understood?" Madam Hooch said as she stared Scorpius down.

"Yes Madam Hooch, I understand." Scorpius said, lowering his head.

"Alright, let's begin! Everyone stand on the right side of your broom! Place your hand over it and say 'Up'! loudly and clearly . Now, go on." Madam Hooch instructed.

"Up!" Rose shouted and instantly the broom flew into her hand. She smiled and looked to see how it was going for her classmates.

Albus smiled back at her, his broom in his hand as well. Most of the other Gryffindors also had their brooms in hand. Madam Hooch was with one of the struggling Gryffindors, who was quite upset that her broom wouldn't budge. The Slytherins all seemed to have mastered this first test with the exception of Tess.

"Up! Up! Oh come on you stupid broom, Up!" Tess shouted over and over.

"You have to talk to it like you expect it to listen." Scorpius said. "The broom won't move unless it knows it has to. Make it know who's boss."

"It's a broom. _It_ doesn't know anything." Tess said, glaring at Scorpius.

"Just try again and pretend it will move then." Scorpius said. "Come on I'll do it with you." He put his broom back down on the ground and moved his hand over it again.

"Fine." Tess closed her eyes and breathed in deeply as she tried to focus all her thoughts on getting the broom into her hand. She let out all the air she was holding and opened her eyes. "Up!" She shouted firmly. The broom flew into her hand instantly.

"I did it!' Tess shouted in triumph, breaking into a huge smile. Scorpius, whose broom was also back into his hand, gave her a congratulatory shove on her shoulder.

"Of course you did. It's all about confidence." He said.

"Took you long enough, Goyle." Ralph shouted from the other side of the line.

"Shut it, Zabini. So what if it took her a few tries to get the broom up," Iris shouted back. "She fully transfigured_ her_ match into a needle."

"No one asked for your opinion, you half-blood troll!' Ralph yelled back.

"Students! Stop your fighting at once. Mr. Zabini apologize to your classmates right now." Madam Hooch said as she stepped in before the confrontation became physical.

"I'm dreadfully sorry Tess, very sorry Iris." Ralph sneered. "_Ruddy mudblood_." He muttered under his breath, but Madam Hooch still heard him.

"That's it, detention Mr. Zabini. Now we will move on and leave this nonsense behind us. Students, step over your brooms and grasp them tightly."

"Oh bugger." Scorpius grumbled as he followed Madam Hooch's instructions.

"What's wrong?" Rose asked.

"Well where do you think Zabini will end up for detention?" Scorpius asked. He looked at Rose pointedly, as if to say _'think about it'._ Rose's eyes shot wide open.

"You don't mean to say….No!" Rose groaned.

"Most likely." Scorpius said ruefully.

"Bugger." Rose said as her shoulders sagged

* * *

><p>"Ah, there ya four are!" Hagrid greeted. His graying mass of hair took up most of his face, but his kind eyes shone brightly through.<p>

"Well I just have these few crates and boxes here ta move up, so it'll only take a few trips I'd say." He motioned to the mountainous load behind him.

"This is going to take all night! This isn't detention, it's torture!" Ralph whined.

"Stuff it Zabini! If you had kept your trap shut earlier you wouldn't even be here." Scorpius said as he stepped forward in order to grab a crate that was about half his size.

"Hagrid what's in this?" Rose asked, lifting the lid off of a brown trunk.

"Don' open that!" Hagrid shouted and rushed forward. He shut the lid down just in time so that only the scaly body within was glimpsed.

"That there's an endangered Runespoor! Rolph Scamander gave me 'im. Very dangerous and very quick, he is. We'll have to be very gentle with these lovely creatures. The new headmaster gave me full permission to get whatever I thought would be good for the students to learn about. Little Orville here is just one of six Runespoors I have." Hagrid explained as he re-latched the trunk.

"Do you want us to carry these one by one?" Tess asked hesitantly.

"Nonsense, I know you lot can' lift these. Mister Malfoy, put that down 'efore you break your back!" Hagrid commanded just as Scorpius was about to fall over. Instead, he dropped the crate he was holding clumsily to the floor.

"Well how are we supposed to help you then?" Rose asked.

"I just need you to lead 'em upstairs once they're charmed. You've been taught Wingardium Leviosa earlier today, yeah? Well just get everything floatin' and take it all up to the new classroom then. It's just a few doors down from Trelawney's room. With the five of us we should be done 'efore nine at the latest." Hagrid explained.

The first years all groaned, but took out their wands and each began floating a few crates. With further directions from Hagrid and a few minutes of practice, the group began their ascent to the seventh floor.

* * *

><p>"Alright then, lower it down now. Gently, gently! Ah good." Hagrid said as the crates were set down on the stone floor with a gentle thud.<p>

"Phew." Hagrid took out a handkerchief from his pocket and wiped the sweat from his face. Ralph rolled his eyes and for once Scorpius agreed with him. It wasn't as if he just levitated a load of crates and trunks up nine staircases with a newly learned spell.

"There, done. Now I think it's time to head back to the dungeon." Ralph said as he turned to leave.

"' 'ey! Not yet! We still have to unload so that I can be ready for me classes ta 'morra." Hagrid yelled out, effectively stopping Ralph.

"It's alright Hagrid. We'll stay. Zabini can go." Scorpius said, hoping the boy would leave. Ralph smiled and nodded in agreement.

"Not so fast. It's not a punishment if ya want to be doing it, now is it? No, you acted out and now ya have to pay for it." Hagrid explained. "Go on and start with those boxes over there." He pointed to three exceptionally large and tall crates in the corner of the room.

The four of them all went over to the boxes and began unlatching them. Inside were a bunch of smaller crates with holding all sorts of strange creatures.

Tess reached forward to grab the handle of a cage that appeared to be empty. As soon as her hand touched the handle, she let out a sharp shriek.

"Ah! Ow!" She shouted. She immediately dropped the cage and tucked her hand in. A second later, once the pain started to wear off, she began to giggle.

"Are you alright?" Rose asked, concerned at her friend's strange behavior.

Tess only continued to cackle uncontrollably. Then she started to rise up in the air.

"Oh no! Blasted billywigs! That charm was s'posed ta would keep 'em trapped in there." Hagrid rushed forward and pulled Tess down from the air, still laughing hysterically.

"Hagrid I think she needs to see Madam Pomfrey."Scorpius said.

"Yes, yes of course. You lot don' touch anything until I get back, alright? I'll just...I'll only be a bit." Hagrid said as he gently led the howling girl away by her robes. "Yer gunna be alright.… 'm sure Poppy has a cure for this. Should only take a few 'ours to brew up…..few days at most…" Hagrid was saying to Tess as they left.

"Well screw that. I'm not going to wait here all night." Ralph said. He turned back to the crates and resumed opening them.

"Stop! Do you want to end up like Tess? We don't have any idea what's in those boxes. We have to wait until Hagrid comes back." Rose said.

However, Ralph did not stop. Instead, he started to pull more and more containers out of the crates.

"_Ain't no giant gonna keep me in detention. Stupid mudblood's fault I'm here. She'll get what's coming to her, just wait….._" He grumbled as he put cage upon cage of strange creatures on the table behind him, not once stopping to see how precariously they were being stacked.

"Zabini! Zabini, calm down!" Scorpius yelled, stepping forward in an attempt to get the other boy to stop.

"No!' He shouted as he placed the last cage from one crate on the top of many smaller cages. "I am not going to be here all night because of some stupid giant!" He yelled.

"Scorpius-" Rose started to speak but Scorpius cut her off.

"I got it, Rose. Look, none of us want to be here, but we are. Let's just wait until he gets back and then he'll probably just let us go back to the dormitories." Scorpius tried to reason with Ralph.

"Yeah right, he'll keep us here all night if he can get the chance." Ralph said as he turned back around and started on the next crate.

"Scorpius!" Rose tried again to get his attention.

"Hey, you don't know that. I'm sure we'll be done soon. Honestly though, it's not even six yet. The other years are still in class." Scorpius said, ignoring Rose.

"The other years, but not ours. They're all in the dorms or in the courtyard fooling around! That's where I should be!" Ralph shouted.

"Well if you weren't such a-"Scorpius started forward, ready to throttle Ralph, but was stopped.

"No!" Rose screamed just as chaos erupted.

Scorpius walked into the table holding all the various cages, causing the pile to fall over onto the ground. Hundreds of strange and endangered species of creatures burst free.

"Run!" Scorpius yelled and they all bolted for the door.

They slammed the door behind, but unfortunately a group of small blue bug like creatures flew out before it was fully shut.

"_Immoculus_!" Rose shouted with her wand raised. She managed to hit only two of the group who immediately dropped to the ground in a frozen state.

"What the hell is that spell?" Scorpius asked, terrified that Rose had just killed the poor blue fairy-like things.

"They aren't dead. It's just a freezing charm from Standard Book of Spells, Grade 2. It's the only way to temporarily stop Cornish Pixies. Come on, we have to go get the rest of them!" Rose said, rushing forward after the group of pixies.

"Screw that! I'm out of here." Ralph said as he turned in the opposite direction. Scorpius tried to grab him but was stopped by Rose.

"Forget him Scorpius, we have to go!" Rose yelled. Scorpius sighed and ran after her.

Rose and Scorpius ran down the hall until they spotted a flash of blue and headed around the corner after it.

The paintings on the wall were yelling and giving all sorts of directions. They were all enjoying the show that was taking place in their otherwise quiet corridor.

"So close!" An old man called out.

"Try again, you'll get it this time for sure!" Another jeered.

"Yeah, going around that corner again will do it!" A large and plump baron quipped.

Scorpius didn't bother heading anything they said, not after that other painting misled him, causing him to end up in detention in the first place.

"Rose, I think we're going in circles!" Scorpius shouted after a few minutes. He knew he saw the painting of the three knights at least four times now.

"What can I do about it? _Immoculus_! Oh bugger!" She shouted as she once again tried to hit the flittering blue pixies that flew just out of her range.

"Stop! Stop." Scorpius held Rose back. "Let's be smart about this, yeah? I'll go this way and you go around there, then we'll corner them. You can get them and we'll be done, alright?" Scorpius said.

"Fine." Rose said, exhausted from all the running. She turned around and headed in the opposite direction. Scorpius continued on.

After a minute he spotted a flicker of blue and ran after it, heading around the corner. He was just in time to see the pixies fly into Trelawney's classroom. Once they realized they were trapped they had flown into the nearest door.

Rose and Scorpius charged into the classroom, not realizing it was in session. Gryffindor and Hufflepuff third years were already scattered about, casting the freezing charm at the pixies.

"_Immoculus_!" Rose saw her cousin James freeze the last little mischief maker.

"Oh dear, dear me. Cornish pixies in September! Never a good sign!" Trelawney exclaimed, holding up a brass cage, obviously a little shaken up from the disruption.

"Looks, like she didn't see that coming." Scorpius whispered to Rose. She just ignored him and turned to the Professor.

"Professor, I'm so sorry! We were just helping Hagrid move them to his classroom and they got loose." Rose apologized.

"No worries, dear. It was only shock to all, I presume. When one is so deep in the Inner Eye, being drawn out so abruptly can cause trouble. Here you are, take that back to Hagrid, will you?" Trelawney said. She handed the cage to Scorpius and shuddered slightly, shaking the beads in her wild hair.

"Causing trouble already, Rose?" James joked from his seat.

"Lookie there James, mischievous little Slytherins interrupting our higher learning." Rose's other cousin Louis joked back.

Rose turned bright red from all the attention.

"Shove off!" Scorpius growled. His obvious annoyance only widened the smiles of the two boys.

"Oh my, looks like we set him off, yeah?" James asked.

"It does seem that way," Louis confirmed, "Wittle Malfoy's got a temper, does he?"

"Now, now let's stop this. Back to your tables students. Let's go you two, let's just-" Trelawney started to lead Rose and Scorpius out but suddenly stopped and harshly gripped both of their shoulders causing them to turn back and look at her. She sucked in a deep breath and appeared to be in a trance.

"Professor are you-"Rose was cut off.

"_Water…Water will stop the blood once pure. Black blood separated but runs through both veins will stop in one by the hands of the other. One of twenty-eight will steal the last breath of another that was once kin. Blood….so black…water ….everywhere….-"_ Trelawney growled out in a possessed voice.

After a second, Trelawney blinked her eyes and shook her head as if to clear it. She looked down to see the two terrified children before her.

"Let's go then, back to Hagrid." She said, as if nothing had happened. She looked up to see her class sitting in stunned silence. "Look back into your crystal balls, concentration is very important." She instructed. The class cautiously returned to their work.

Terrified of what had just happened, Scorpius ran from the room with the cage of pixies in hand. Rose followed close behind him, only giving a slight look back but still managing to catch the wary looks on her cousins' faces.

Scorpius set the cage down and leaned against the stone wall outside of the classroom.

"What the hell was that?" He barked, still panicked. Rose came to a stop in front of him, gasping for breath.

"I think...I think it was a prophecy." Rose said, still trying to sort out what had just happened.

"Well, what the bloody hell did it mean? Water and blood? What was she going on about?" Scorpius cried, trying to slow his heart rate.

"I think it meant that someone is going to die." Rose replied, looking over at him.

Scorpius looked at her as his eyes widened.


	5. Chapter 5

"Scorpius cut it out already!" Rose whispered harshly.

Scorpius had been looking nervously around the great hall all through lunch, just as he had during breakfast, and just as he had during dinner the night before. Just as before, none of the other students paid him any mind.

"Do you think they know…you know…about the prophecy?" Scorpius said to Rose, his voice almost inaudible. He put his hand in front of his face to try and hide what he was saying from Tess who was only a foot away on the bench.

"Yes, I believe everyone knows about what Trelawney said," Tess said nonchalantly, not even bothering to look up from her copy of the Daily Prophet. "I overheard some Hufflepuff third year talking about it to Madame Pomfrey while I was in the infirmary. I suppose the whole school knows by now."

"And neither of you think it means anything?" Scorpius asked, astonished at the girls' lack of concern.

"Divination may be a legitimate skill that Trelawney is quite competent at teaching, but for the most part she's a crack pot. No one takes her seriously these days. She's always saying this or that will happen and she's very rarely right. Her so called _prophecy_ isn't worth our time." Rose said calmly.

"Not worth..? What the…You're the one who said it meant that someone is going to die! How can you figure that's not worth out time?" He screeched.

"Because people die every day and we have no reason to believe it has anything to with us. Besides, Quidditch try outs are today and I have more important things to worry about." Rose said soundly.

In reality, Rose had barely slept since hearing the older witch's foreboding words, but she wasn't about to let Scorpius know that. One of them had to keep a level head about this situation.

"How can you think it has nothing to with us? It was our bloody shoulders that she was touching when she got all possessed!"

"She's also credited with the prophecy about the one person who would defeat Lord Voldemort and only Albus Dumbledore was in the room then. When it turned out to be Harry Potter, he'd never heard the prophecy himself until years later. Stop being so worried about it. Not to mention, I've heard she's only had one correct prophecy since then. That's what? Two correct prophecies in nearly forty years? Not the best record if you ask me." Rose said, trying to convince herself as well as Scorpius.

"Fine." He grumbled and slowly began to pick at his lunch that had long since cooled. He still glanced up at the other students occasionally, not full able to fathom that no one was bothered by what Trelawney had said.

"Oh look! The owls are here!" Rose shouted, pointing upwards.

Hundreds of owls swooped into the great hall carrying all sorts of letters and packages. Scorpius looked up to see his owl Hobbs land with a thud right in front of him. Attached to him was a large and oddly shaped package.

"Hey there Hobbs, there you go." Scorpius said, feeding him a bit of his cold meat that the bird ate gluttonously.

"Now what's this?" Scorpius asked himself, as he took the small note attached the package and read it.

_To the next great Slytherin quidditch star. Your mother and I intended to give this to you on your birthday, but tryouts are much sooner than that. Do your best and know that we're proud of you no matter what._

_ Love, Dad_

"No…No they didn't…Oh my God!" Scorpius shouted excitedly as he began to rip the paper around the odd lump to shreds. "They did. Oh Merlin look at it!"

There before him was a brand new Cirrus Nine. The Cirrus line was new from the Nimbus Racing Broom Company, but the Cirrus Eight had only come out in April of 2017, making the Cirrus Nine one of the most anticipated brooms of 2018.

"Is that the newest Cirrus? How did you get that now?" Rose asked curiously as she peered over the paper.

"I haven't the slightest. It's so beautiful." He said not taking his eyes of the dark ebony handle and perfectly trimmed bristles.

"Well you're guaranteed a spot now aren't you? Buying your way in, I see." Ralph said as he walked up to see what all the fuss was about. Damian followed behind him closely.

"Oh shut it, Zabini. You're just jealous." Rose snapped. "This'll be great for the team Scorpius." She said in admiration of the broom.

"What? You think _you'll_ be able to get on the team, do you? The Slytherin team hasn't had a girl on it since before we were born. What makes you think you're so special, Weasley? This isn't Gryffindor. Spots aren't given away because you're family. You have to earn it."

"I could beat you in any position!" Rose stood up and stepped threateningly toward Ralph.

"Cut it out, both of you. You want to end up in detention again?" Tess scolded, getting between the two.

"We'll see about that!" Ralph stepped away, "You coming or what?" Ralph urged Damian, who hadn't looked away from Scorpius' broom since he first laid eyes on it. Damian snapped to attention at the sound Ralphs voice.

"I uh…yeah, I just have to ask Professor Dunbar something about the potions homework." He said quickly.

"Well alright, but Higgs won't wait forever." Ralph huffed, and strutted from the great hall.

"We didn't have any potions homework." Rose said, looking at Damian suspiciously.

"Yeah but luckily Ralph slept through the whole class. Higgs has kept us up late all week." Damian explained.

"Higgs? Atticus Higgs? What's the Head Boy doing with you and Zabini?" Scorpius asked.

"He's the captain of the quidditch team too. He's been giving us a little extra training for tryouts. Ralph is, uh…"Damian looked over his shoulder, "He's bloody awful at quidditch. He hasn't stopped a single quaffle, been knocked off his broom more times than I can count by the bludgers and can't ever find the snitch."

Scorpius's face broke into a huge smile.

"He's that bad?" he asked.

"It's painful to watch. Higgs has the patience of a god, though. I think the only reason he puts up with us is because he hopes Ralph's dad can get him a spot on Puddlemere next season."

"Looks like he's the one buying his way into the team." Said Rose.

"I doubt even a broom like Scorpius's would help him. I don't know how much longer Higgs can keep pretending that Ralph is getting better. He's tried everything, but nothing sticks. There's no way he'll be ready in time." Damian stated.

"How can you all get on the team anyway? I though first years weren't allowed to play quidditch." Tess asked. Rose sighed.

"I know the class is dreadfully boring, but didn't any of you pay attention in history the other day?" The others shook their heads. Scorpius scoffed.

"You mean during nap time?" Rose rolled her eyes.

"In 1997, there was the Muggle-Born Registration Commission that made everyone prove their wizarding blood status. Of course, the muggleborns weren't able to do that, so they were imprisoned for their crimes of "_stealing"_ magic. Muggleborns that got accepted to Hogwarts, were instead rounded up imprisoned before they even got there." Rose reiterated from their earlier lessons.

"Because of those laws, the student population in Hogwarts was all a mess after the war. Two years' worth of muggleborns now had to be sorted, along with all the other half-bloods and purebloods. The muggleborns were all sorted into Gryffindor, Hufflepuff or Ravenclaw, and understandably, none were sorted into Slytherin. In fact, there were very few first years sorted into Slytherin, and the house didn't have very many older students to start with since most of them had sided with Lord Voldemort and once he was killed, his supporters were all imprisoned or punished."

"Because of the imbalance among the houses, the Headmistress at the time thought it would be best to let everyone try out for quidditch. That way, it was fair for the first years that should have been in their second year and for Slytherin that needed first years to even make a team." Rose explained.

"Besides, they wanted my brilliance as soon as they could get it." Scorpius joked.

"Yeah sure they did. Well, since Ralph is so bloody awful, as long as you and Rose are decent, then you'll have no problem getting on the team. A winning season would open a lot more doors than Zabini's father ever could, Higgs will see that." Damian said.

"You know, Flint, you're not so bad when you're not acting like Zabini's lap dog." Scorpius smiled. Damian just rolled his eyes.

"Scorpius!" Rose scolded.

"Nah, it's fine. He's not that bad all the time. And really, I'm his only friend. I feel bad for him."

"So Damian, we didn't have any potions homework today. You didn't stay behind just to complain about quidditch, did you?" Scorpius said with a smirk.

"Oh shove off. I just wanted to talk to her for a second. We're in charms club together." Damian gestured to a girl sitting at the Ravenclaw table.

"Lucy?" Rose asked shocked.

"You know her?" Damian asked, also surprised.

"Yeah, she's my cousin. She's a year older and her dad and mine aren't that close so I don't see her that much though." Rose explained.

"It's alright, Flint. No one can keep track of _all_ Rose's cousins, but didn't you make that connection? I mean look at her hair!" Scorpius laughed.

"Not all red heads are Weasleys!" Damian defended.

"So why do you go to charms club? Just to check out Rose's cousin?" Tess giggled.

"Yeah, what kind of charm club did you think it was?" Scorpius jeered.

"I don't check her out! We're friends! Piss off, all of you." He said sternly and then walked over to Lucy.

"Lucy's a Ravenclaw? I thought all Weasleys were Gryffindors." Tess questioned.

"They are for the most part. Lucy's older sister Molly, and out other cousin Dominique are in Ravenlcaw too, but the rest are all in Gryffindor." Rose shrugged, though Scorpius could tell that the issue still weighed on her.

"Hey, you got a letter." Albus called to Rose as he walked over from the Gryffindor's table.

"Really who's it from?" She asked taking it from her cousin's hands.

"Uncle Ron. I'll… uh… see you later then." He then walked off. Rose's eyes followed him, wondering why he was acting so strange. As he sat back down next to James and Louis, he glanced back over at Rose but turned around the second he saw that she was watching him.

"Your dad?" Scorpius asked, taking her attention back to the letter at hand.

"Yeah." Her eyes bore into the scratchy etching of her name in her father's handwriting.

"Is it a big deal? Rose's dad writing her?" Tess asked, unsure of why Rose looked so frightened of the piece of parchment in her hand.

"He hasn't talked to me since the platform." Rose said quietly.

"Wow, really? My parents have sent me dozens of letters and it's only been a few weeks. It's embarrassing, really."

"Not nearly as bad as the howler I got last week when my mum found out I had been in detention." Scorpius smiled and nudged Rose in the shoulder trying to lighten her suddenly somber mood.

"Yeah, that was hilarious." Tess laughed, remembering Scorpius's bright red face as the red card screamed at him.

"I'll uh…I'll be right back." Rose slid off the bench and headed out from the great hall.

Scorpius and Tess watched as she rushed out, the letter held tightly in hand.

"She's really terrified of what that letter says, isn't she?" Tess asked.

"Her father's opinion means everything to her, and she feels as though she's let him down. I think we could all understand that." Scorpius explained.

Tess nodded and looked out to the archway that her friend had just disappeared under.

* * *

><p><em>Dear Rosie,<em>

_I'm so sorry that I haven't written until now. I'll admit that I'm not all that happy that Slytherin was the house that old hat decided to put you in. There were so many great experiences that I had in Gryffindor with your mother and uncle that I wanted to be able to share with you and now that just isn't possible._

_But you know me better than that Rosie. You know that shared experiences isn't why I'm upset you were put in Slytherin. If that was all it was, then I would've been just as upset if you were in Ravenclaw or Hufflepuff, and we both know that wouldn't have happened. _

_When I was at school, Slytherins were all the same. They were cruel purebloods, or half-bloods that pretended they were purebloods, who thought they were better than all the others. I was pureblood, but still would have never fit in. The Weasleys were considered blood traitors because of your grandfather's love for the muggle world. That was a black mark on our pureblood status that wouldn't be overlooked easily. I didn't care if it was though. I love your grandfather and the muggle world, so I knew Slytherin wasn't the best fit for me. _

_However, I wasn't sure Gryffindor was the right house me either. _

_The night before I stepped on that train for the first time, I had a little talk with your Uncle Percy. I told him that I didn't think I was good enough for Gryffindor, smart enough for Ravenclaw or even sure Hufflepuff would take me. Percy told me that I would be in Gryffindor because that's just where Weasley's went. I didn't find that very comforting. However the next night I was eating dinner at the Gryffindor table just like he had said. _

_Years later, when Bill's daughter Dominique was sorted into Ravenclaw, I told Percy that maybe not all Weasleys were meant to be in Gryffindor after all. Then he told me something that really surprised me. He said that the hat had told him he should've be in Slytherin. He had to beg it to put him in Gryffindor. _

_Initially, being with Bill and Charlie all the time made up for the fact that he didn't feel at home in Gryffindor, but that wore off quickly. They didn't want their little brother tagging along with them all the time, so he was quickly abandoned. Then the feelings of loneliness really set in. _

_Your uncle believed that knowing he was in the wrong house every year made him hate all the rest of us more and more. Gryffindor was where we belonged, but it wasn't where he belonged. He said that he saw that separation everywhere. He was the only one to never play quidditch, he never got a detention, and he was never asked to join in any plot the twins came up with. Being Prefect and later Head Boy was the first connection he felt with his family, but by that time his older brothers were gone and he was picked on_ _mercilessly by his younger siblings. To him, fitting in wasn't possible, so he rejected us and made his own path. _

_What I'm trying to say Rosie, is that the hat placed you in Slytherin for a reason. I'd rather you be in a house where you felt you belonged than be stuck in Gryffindor and feel out place. It turned out alright in the end for your Uncle Percy, but I never want you to feel like an outsider from your own family. We love you Rosie, and I'm not about to let a little house placement make you feel that we don't. _

_Now you make that quidditch team and win the cup just like I know you can. Wouldn't it feel fantastic to wipe that smirk off James's face when Slytherin wins the cup this year? I could hold it over your Aunt Gin and Uncle Harry for years! Crush their dreams Rosie!_

_Love you more than ever,_

_Dad_

Rose crushed the letter to her chest and smiled. It felt so good to hear from him. He always knew what was going through her head and knew just what to say to make it all better. Her dad always understood her better than anyone else, and as much as Rose loved her mother, her father just got her. Their shared feeling of always being second best gave them a connection that their other family member's just didn't understand. Where her dad had his brothers and sister, Rose had her cousins.

With all her fears quelled, Rose wiped a tear from her face and gently placed the letter in the pocket of her jumper.

"I hope those are happy tears." Rose spun around to see Scorpius peering around the door to the empty classroom she had run off to.

Rose just smiled and nodded happily.

"Good, alright then. Well the pitch is all set up and our tryouts start in about ten minutes." Scorpius said, trying to be casual about it.

"Ten minutes! Why didn't you get me sooner? I have to get my broom." She rushed out of the room. "You coming or what?" She shouted from down the hall.

"Right behind you!"

* * *

><p>"Alright listen up, every member of this team needs to focus on three things: Speed, Agility, and Teamwork. We have one goal, the Quidditch cup. If you can't help this team achieve this goal then you're out. I don't care who your family is, what they've done or what they're doing; you're the one trying out for this team." Atticus Higgs explained.<p>

"Come on Higgs, you act as if they're lining up here. It's just these firsties. They'll take whatever we give them." Felix Montague, a fourth year chaser, said.

"Yeah, just tell them to get up in the air and we'll have a little fun with them. You want to have a little fun sweetheart?" Julian Bole, another chaser, leaned down and asked Rose, making her take an involuntary step back. Julian chuckled.

"Fine, we'll compromise. You and Montague take Flint and Zabini. Pucey and I will take Malfoy and Weasley. We'll be done in an hour." Higgs said.

"Ah fine, runts follow me." Julian said as he and Felix went toward the other end of the pitch. Ralph and Damian followed, though Ralph looked less than thrilled to not be with his personal trainer.

"Rose Weasley, Scorpius Malfoy, this is Anthony Pucey. Now that introductions are done, let's get in the air." Higgs ordered.

Higgs was not the type of person to be messed with. He gave orders and people followed him. He was a good leader and strong captain for the team, but he still needed the _right_ team to win.

Once in the air Higgs explained that they would start with the beater position, then keeper, and seeker last.

"Alright let's go!" Anthony shouted and wacked his bat at the bludger sending it straight for Scorpius's face. Rose quickly dived in front and beat the bludger off its course, sending it straight out of the pitch.

"Thanks Rose!" Scorpius called as he whacked another bludger Higgs sent toward him.

"Anytime!" She called back, pulling her arm back in order to strike the returning ball again.

After about ten minutes of Scorpius and Rose protecting themselves and each other, Higgs decided it was time to move on.

"For the keeper position, we will try you both individually. Pucey and I will try to score and you will block the hoop. Simple enough. There won't be any bludgers, because I want to get a sense of how you work just focusing on the chasers, and if I'm doing my job right, in a real game you shouldn't have to ever worry about the bludgers anyway. Weasley first."

Rose nervously got into position and waited for the assault. Within seconds the quaffle came flying at the hoop and she turned just in time to block it.

"Nice!" Scorpius cheered from the side, but Rose paid him no mind. Her eyes were set with determination as she blocked the next oncoming shot.

Higgs kept her going for eight more minutes before she finally let a quaffle past her. Her defeat made her hesitate and Pucey and Higgs were both able to score again right after that. When the third Quaffle made it in, she got her head back in the game and didn't let another one past. The try out lasted another five minutes before Higgs called it to an end.

"Alright, that's enough. Nice job Weasley, Malfoy you're up."

"Good job Rose!" Scorpius congratulated.

"Whatever." Rose grumbled as she flew past him.

Scorpius didn't have a second to think on Rose's sudden change in attitude before the quaffle came flying. He quickly spun around and blocked it with the tail of his brand new broom.

"Almost got you Malfoy!" Pucey yelled.

"Not going to happen!" Scorpius yelled back and blocked the next few shots.

Scorpius loved the stability that his new broom gave him. He felt as though he could fly in any direction and still stay on it. It was much steadier than his older broom, which gave him a great advantage as he moved to block each throw from Pucey or Higgs.

After what seemed like hours later, but was in fact only fifteen minutes, Higgs decided it had been enough. Neither Pucey nor Higgs had gotten a single quaffle past Scorpius.

"Excellent job, the both of you. It's very crucial to have a good keeper, otherwise we could end up giving away a lot of points." Higgs said with just a hint of a smile.

"But we all know what the most important position of any quidditch team is. The one position that could change everything in a second. I need the very best seeker for us to have a chance at the cup so show me everything you've got. Now!"

With no hesitation Higgs released the snitch. He and Pucey flew to the ground and watched as Rose and Scorpius searched for the fluttering ball.

It seemed like only seconds later that Rose flew up into the sky. Scorpius pushed his new broom to its limits but without any idea of where Rose was going, he had to trail a few feet behind hoping for an opportunity to overtake her.

That opportunity never came, though, since Rose suddenly reached out her hand, to grab what appeared to be nothing. She then stopped suddenly, making Scorpius have to turn around only to see her triumphantly holding the snitch.

"Already? I didn't even see it." Scorpius groaned. Rose simply smiled as she flew slowly to the ground.

"Excellent!" Higgs greeted them with a real smile all over his face.

"Look at you Weasley." Anthony smiled.

Rose smirked back and handed the snitch over to Higgs.

"Maybe I need glasses." Scorpius mumbled quietly.

Pucey and Higgs then led Rose and Scorpius back to the center of the pitch where they met up with the other group that was just finishing up.

"Now that we've had a chance to see what you can do, the current members of the team will discuss our options and decide which of you will be joining the team. The results will be posted after dinner in the common room." Higgs said.

"Well that went brilliantly! I only let three quaffles in!" Ralph exclaimed as the four first years walked back to their dorms.

"Scorpius didn't let any in." Rose commented, although she instantly regretted in when she heard Scorpius sigh. A comment like that was only going to start an argument and they all were too tired for that. Well, everyone but Ralph was too tired.

"Oh? And who was trying to score on him, Higgs? Higgs is a beater. We had two chasers scoring on us. It's not very fair is it? They better put that into consideration. On the other hand it only took me twenty minutes to find and get the snitch. Took it right out of your grasp didn't I, Flint?" Ralph gloated.

"I don't know Ralph, I was way behind you." Damian said. Scorpius and Rose smiled to each other at Damian's more than obvious sarcastic tone. Ralph didn't notice anything.

"True, I didn't even notice you were there. Must have been more than a few feet then." Ralph acknowledged.

"Well I'm exhausted. I'll see you after dinner." Rose said and headed straight to the girls dorms after they reached the dormitories.

"Can't even handle the tryout, Weasley? Looks like you can't handle the physical side of real Quidditch after all!" Ralph shouted after, but once she shut the door, loudly, Ralph slid onto the couch. "Man, I'm beat." He groaned, as he laid back and closed his eyes

Scorpius rolled his eyes and fell into the nearest arm chair, trying to stop the quivering in his legs. It may have just been an hour, but Rose had a crazy competitive streak that he had not known about and he had to really push himself to even keep up with her, even with the advantage of his new broom.

"I just can't wait to find out if I'm on the team." Scorpius said. At that, Ralph cracked one eye open.

"Bet you can't wait to get away from Weasley. It's like a leech the way she's stuck to you." He said.

"Once the quidditch practices start, I won't be seeing much of anyone unless they're on the team too." Scorpius said strategically.

"Just wake me up when we hear." Damian grumbled as he fell face first onto the couch and started snoring the second his head hit the cushions.

"This is bullshit!" Ralph shouted at Higgs who had just finished posting the new team roster. The noise roused Scorpius and Damian immediately, the latter of whom fell onto the floor. Rose, on the other hand, rushed from her dorm to see what was happening.

"We saw everyone's skills and filled the positions accordingly. The others were just better fits for the positions." Higgs said calmly, as he stared down at the smaller boy in front of him.

"But Weasley for seeker? I got that snitch in just twenty minutes!" Ralph complained.

"Rose caught it in half that." Scorpius challenged, making Rose blush.

"You're still on the team, Zabini. Beaters are often the most likely to get hurt and Flint really needs you as his substitute." Higgs explained.

"I'm no one's substitute. Either you fix this mistake now, or I walk!"

"Then walk. Face it Zabini, you're awful. I've seen squibs better than you." Julian joked and Felix laughed along with him. Ralph's face burned up, whether in anger or embarrassment was unclear. Higgs glared at his teammates.

"It was a team decision, and unfortunately there weren't as many positions as there were applicants. Try again next year." Higgs said.

"Piss off!" Ralph shouted and stormed from the room. Higgs walked calmly back toward his room with his older teammates following.

"So, I made the team?" Rose asked cautiously as she stepped forward.

"Looks like it, and you got seeker. Damian is the new beater, and I'm…keeper it says." Scorpius read from the roster.

"Keeper? Congratulations! You were great out there." Rose praised.

"You too. That's got to be the fastest anyone has caught the snitch before, at least at this level."

"Oh I'm sure one of my family members has caught it faster." Rose admonished, thinking of her Uncle Harry.

"So I made it?" Damian called from the floor, sheepishly looking toward the door that Ralph had just exited through.

"Yeah you made it man." Scorpius called back.

"Brilliant." He said dreamily. He climbed back onto the couch and quickly started to snore again.

"Well, I guess I'll see you later teammate. I have to write my dad." Rose said as she headed off.

"Bye teammate!" Scorpius called after her.

He smiled to himself as he anticipated the season that awaited him.


	6. Chapter 6

_**A/N: Thanks to all who are reading this, and thanks of course to Maleday for fixing this and every chapter up. Reviews are always welcome!**_

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><p>"Are you ready?" Scorpius asked as he came up behind Rose in the Slytherin common room. She was curled up on the couch with her cat Orwell tucked tightly into her. Orwell seemed to be providing comfort to the extremely pale girl.<p>

"Yes, I've thrown up twice now. I believe there's nothing left in my stomach to come back up." She replied weakly without looking at him, holding Orwell all that much tighter. Scorpius scrunched his face up in disgust.

"Oh, come off it. It can't be that bad."

"Really? How would you go about preparing to be demolished by your own family members?"

"Hey, we're a decent team and we've been preparing for this for almost a month now. How can you possibly think we have no chance?"

Rose turned to him and he could see the fear and dread all over her face.

"It's not that I think we don't have a chance, it's more that I…that I'm not good enough. I'm sure I'll just embarrass myself and let everyone down. Ralph is right, I don't belong on the team." She looked somberly at the floor.

"No. Now you listen to me, you're a brilliant seeker that belongs on this team. Don't let anyone, including yourself, tell you otherwise. You're going to go out there today and find that snitch before Gryffindor can even score a point, alright?" Scorpius wasn't sure if his words would help, but Rose soon had a small smile edging itself onto her face.

"Alright." She acquiesced, loosening her grip on Orwell loosen. The second the cat was released, it sauntered to the fireplace and laid before it, as if the act of comforting Rose had been extremely taxing.

"Looking a bit peaky there, eh, Weasley?" Ralph snarled as he came from the boys' room dressed in quidditch robes as well. Damian followed close behind, as usual.

"What are you dressed like that for? You're not playing today." Scorpius remarked.

"We'll see about that. Higgs may have seen you two play against other Slytherins, but I'm sure that once he sees you in a real game, he'll see the mistake he made. Come on Damian, let's leave Malfoy and Queasley to themselves." He sneered and left. Damian gave an apologetic glance back as he followed Ralph out.

"He's ridiculous." Scorpius shook his head.

"What? Did you honestly think he'd give up so easily? Just wait until after the game, I'm sure he'll have all sorts of_ advice_ for us." Rose said with a sarcastic pleasure in her voice.

"I'll bet." Scorpius agreed.

* * *

><p>"Let's face it, we're probably going to lose today. Now before this goes down as the worst pre-game speech in quidditch history, hear me out. Gryffindor has gone undefeated for nearly seven years. Now as much as I don't want that to continue, I don't think it will end today. They've got two new players on their team; Albus Potter as keeper and Annabelle Finnegan as a beater. These are their weak links. It doesn't matter how good they are, they're new and we should target them. That being said, Scorpius and Damian, you will have to deal with similar treatment from the Gryffindor team. I'm not quite sure what to expect for you, Weasley." Higgs said.<p>

"They'll treat me like any other opponent. Doesn't matter if we're related, all that matters is the win." Rose confidently declared, knowing her cousins would play fair.

"Good, let's go then. Bole, Montague, at least score once, yeah? Defense can't do everything."

"It's like you have no faith in us." Bole said, genuinely hurt.

"Potter won't see us coming, you'll see." Montague added.

"I hope. Ralph, you can head up to the tower or stay here to watch. You'll know if you're needed." Higgs instructed.

"I'll be waiting. Won't be long, I imagine." Ralph smirked at Scorpius and Rose, neither of whom bothered to give him a glance. Put off, Ralph sighed and sat indignantly on the bench underneath the Slytherin tower .

The rest of the team headed out to the pitch. They could see the Gryffindor team heading out from their locker room on the other side as well

"So I know that's Annabelle Finnegan, but who's that guy talking to her? Another one of your cousins?" Scorpius asked Rose as he stared at the older boy heatedly talking to the younger girl. The boy was lanky with shaggy blonde hair and pale skin. His overall appearance reminded Scorpius of a feral animal that could snap at any moment.

"Despite what you think, not every boy in Gryffindor is related to me. I don't know everyone." She sighed.

"What're you looking at, Malfoy?" Montague asked, as he followed the gaze of the younger boy, "Oh, looks like Sleazy Creevey is up to his old games, Bole! He's going for the young ones this year."

"Huh? Oh yeah, but where is Macmillan? He's not following him around like usual ." Bole questioned. "You watch out for them, Weasley. They're the creepiest sods you'll ever meet." Rose was surprised by the protective tone that came from her new teammate, it was almost as if he genuinely cared for her well-being.

"It's Cain Creevey, and they're talking about his best friend Alwyn Macmillan. They're fourth years who are always looking for a new girl to hit on. Looks like Ms. Finnegan is the new focus of Creevey's attention this time around." Anthony Pucey explained.

"It doesn't look like she appreciates it. Is no one going to do anything?" Scorpius asked , astounded at the audacity of the boys as he watched Cain put his hand on Annabelle's shoulder, only to have it whacked off immediately by the young girl.

"Give it a minute, the captain will help her." Anthony said.

Sure enough, as soon as Rose and Scorpius turned back, Roxanne Weasley was shouting at the boys as she physically shoved them away from Annabelle.

"And the school thinks we're the bad guys." Bole grunted. Montague shook his head in agreement.

All the players went to the center of the pitch and stood in position, anticipating the arrival of Madame Hooch.

" Greetings everyone." Madame Hooch boomed, as she entered into the middle of the students. "Now, I want to start this season off with a good match. No foul play, and keep the language to a minimum, please. Alright, everyone mount your brooms." Everyone got on their brooms. Rose followed suit and quickly wiped her sweaty palms on her robes, trying to get rid of her nerves. "Ready?" Madame Hooch called out, then without waiting for a response she blew her whistle loudly and all the players rose instantly into the air. The game began.

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><p>Rose watched from the side as Louis and James raced toward the Slytherin Hoops with the quaffle, only to have Scorpius deflect their attempt toward Bole who shot it towards the other end of the pitch.<p>

"So how's your first school match going, my dear cousin?" Fred asked Rose as he floated next to her.

"It doesn't work in the orchard and it's not going to work here, Fred. You won't be able to distract me." Rose told her cousin as she diligently stared into the air hoping for a glint of gold.

"No, of course not. Just trying to have a friendly chat is all. No underlying agenda." He smirked back. Rose couldn't hold back a smile but she still didn't look at him.

"Malfoy's pretty good, I think that's the first goal Roxie hasn't made in months." Fred added as he watched Scorpius block the quaffle yet again.

"Hm." Rose gave a noncommittal murmur.

"Not that Albus is too bad either. No one has scored on him yet." Fred tried again to stimulate conversation, but was met with silence.

"Fine if you don't want to chat, I guess I'll go get the snitch that's been flittering around the Slytherin goal post for the last few minutes." Fred shot off.

"Where it's been what? Oh Fred you-" Rose groaned, flying off to follow him.

"How's my old broom treating you?" Fred called back as he flew toward the snitch, only to have it zoom upward as he approached.

"It can move a lot faster when it doesn't have to lug your fat bum around!" Rose shouted back as she followed him closely behind. Fred laughed in return.

Rose sped up and overtook Fred as they went around the Gryffindor stands. She could see him receding more and more in her peripheral vision.

"What are you up to Fred?" Rose called back. She know he could out pass her in a second, especially since she was on his old broom.

"I've no idea what you're talking about Rosie. You better hurry up now, I'm gonna get that snitch." He then zoomed forward, which made Rose lower her head and speed up as well. She must have been imagining him slowing down.

Despite her reservations, Rose put all her focus into making her body one with her broom. She then reached out her arm and tightened her legs to steady herself as she moved just inches in front of her cousin. Her hand grasped tightly around the fluttering gold ball and she slowed, holding up her prize in pure elation.

"Ladies and gentlemen Weasley has caught the snitch! Which Weasley? Oh of course, my bad. Rose Weasley, the seeker for Slytherin has caught the snitch! That's right, the match is over and _Slytherin_ has won! You heard me right, Slytherin has beat Gryffindor in the first match of the season!" Scott Jordon, the quidditch commentator, called out.

Rose was instantly surrounded by her exhilarated teammates. Their apathy had disappeared completely the second it was clarified that their Weasley had ended the game

"Nice going, Weasley!" Montague exclaimed.

"Yeah, I thought for sure you were going to fly straight into the stand when you went around that corner! Glad you made it!" Bole added.

"Excellent job. One down, only two more houses to go ! We may have a chance yet." Higgs smiled brilliantly, elated by the unexpected turn of events.

"You did great, Rose." Scorpius smiled as he patted her on the shoulder.

"You too, I see they didn't even score a point!" She exclaimed.

"Yeah, well neither did we. Your cousin Albus is a brilliant keeper." Scorpius acknowledged.

"Yeah." Rose said and turned to look at her cousin, anticipating a look of sadness on his face.

Unexpectedly, Rose found him to be smiling up at her with a knowing smile. She then looked at the rest of her family to see that they were all oddly happy. None of them looked like they were even slightly upset about their loss as they went to get changed. It was almost as if they had known they were going to lose. As if they had been expecting this outcome all along.

"No….No they didn't!" She gasped, realizing what had really happened.

"Rose? Rose, what's wrong?" Scorpius asked, concerned with the sudden change in his friend's demeanor.

Rose dropped her broom and stalked over to the Gryffindor locker room, Scorpius followed quickly behind her. She pulled back the curtain and glared furiously at her family who all immediately stopped getting changed.

"How could you!" She shouted, her face furious but her eyes slightly glistening. The smiles her cousins had on all vanished as they saw how distressed their younger family member was.

"Awe Rose, we didn't meant to-" Louis started to apologize.

"You let me win! You!" She pointed towards Fred. "You had the snitch in your grasp and you slowed down so I could get it. You even saw it way before me and you didn't go for it until after you told me. Why didn't you just take it?" She cried.

Fred's gaze drifted to the ground in guilt.

"I thought it would be better for you on the team if you won. I was trying to help…" Fred tried to explain, not even able to look his cousin in the eye.

"Help? How does letting me win help? Now I'm just going to embarrass myself in the next match when we lose to Ravenclaw all because I'm not nearly as good as anyone thinks."

"That's not true! You really gave me a run for my money. The last few seconds, I could barely keep up with you." Fred said in earnest.

"It's not just you we were easy on. We were shooting wide on Malfoy for the whole match." James added.

"As if you could have gotten a shot in any way!" Scorpius growled from the entrance, making his presence known. James just rolled his eyes at the boy. The rest of the Gryffindors ignored him, focusing more on their cousin.

"I don't think that helps the situation, James." Roxanne said. "Listen, Rose you're a fabulous seeker and we should have played fair. I'm sorry, but what's done is done. Do you honestly think anyone, especially your teammates, will go for a rematch if we say we let you win? No, they'll just say we're sore losers. There's no way to change what happened. Why don't you just move on? Your teammates are happy with the results. Are you really going to take that away from them just for your pride?"

Rose glared at her cousin. She hated that they didn't have enough faith in her to win on her own, but what Roxanne said was true. In all likelihood there wouldn't be a rematch, and Higgs was over the moon. If she told them the truth of what happened, it wouldn't make anyone feel any better. She couldn't take this win away from her team.

"Fine, but if you ever do something like this again, any of you, you'll regret it." She threatened and turned to leave before any of them could see the leaking tears that were quickly coming down her cheeks.

"She's gotten scary now that's she's a Slytherin." James said.

"I told you she wouldn't be happy. It was a bad idea." Albus added.

* * *

><p>Rose ran into the Slytherin locker room with Scorpius close behind. Her other teammates had already changed and were likely back in the Slytherin common room celebrating.<p>

Rose began quickly changing out of her quidditch uniform behind the screen her teammates had so graciously given to their only female member. Scorpius took off his quidditch robes and his keeper gear on the other side.

"So….that's your family." He started.

"Yeah, that's my family." She snapped.

Scorpius finished changing and turned to her.

"I understand why you're angry, I would be too if anyone did that to me. Well…I guess they did do that to me….but what I mean is, they weren't trying to hurt you." He tried to comfort her.

"Really?" She looked up at him and he could see the tear tracks still visible on her face. "Because from where I'm standing all it says is that they didn't think I could win on my own. They always do stuff like this, treat me like I'm a little kid who can't do anything by herself." She sighed and sat down on the bench. "This time they were right, though. Fred could have ended the game in the first minute, but he didn't. Who knows how much they were holding back. If I can't beat a guy whose tricks and style I already know, how much of a chance do I really have against Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff? I don't have any idea about those teams."

"You train harder, and you learn. That's how you become better and beat the other teams. You can't base your skills off of others. You have to play your own game, Rose. When we beat the other houses, they'll see how wrong they were to assume you needed their help. Let's forget about how we got the win and just focus on the fact that we got it." He stared directly at her, daring her challenge what he was saying. Rose stared back and then looked away as she nodded.

"Alright, fine. But I don't feel quite up to celebrating this victory right now." She said glumly.

"Me neither, it kind of sucks out all the fun of winning when you know the other team didn't give it their all. You want to fly around for a bit? Curfew is not for another few hours." Scorpius asked, looking hopeful.

"We just finished getting changed! And we're also not supposed to be flying unless its practice or a match." Rose said exasperated.

"We don't have to get sweaty or anything, I just meant a fly around the grounds. High enough so no one will notice."

"Fine, but only if we'll take one broom and if we get caught I'll say you kidnapped me." She smirked.

"Okay, but I'm in the front, and we're taking my broom!" He smiled and they went out to the pitch to find it empty. The entire school had already gone back to the castle.

Scorpius got on his broom and Rose climbed on behind him, putting her arms around his waist. Once they were both secure, Scorpius shot up into the clouds, high enough so that they looked like a speck to anyone who glanced up.

The castle looked like a small dollhouse from the height they were at. Rose had never seen such a fantastic view before. The broom below her was also much more comfortable than any other one she had ever been on. Her old broom was in desperate need of repair, so it felt wonderful to be on something so new and pristine.

"This is brilliant!" Rose shouted.

"Flying with me always is." Scorpius quipped. Rose rolled her eyes.

"I was talking about the broom, it's so steady and fast. It's much better than the broom I have."

"Sure you were."

The two flew slowly around the grounds and Scorpius even pulled a few trick moves, just to show what his broom could really do. He had no intention of showing off to Rose, but it certainly didn't hurt that she tightened her grip each time they went upside down.

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><p>As they flew back toward the castle, Rose spotted a figure by the Black Lake standing next to what appeared to be a very large red rock.<p>

"What's that?" She pointed. Scorpius looked at the area in question.

"No idea, let's check it out." He cautiously flew lower to the ground until they were hidden behind a few taller trees at the edge of the forest.

"I think it's Creevey, the Gryffindor from earlier." Scorpius said, squinting through the branches of the bare trees.

"But what is that giant red blob? Wait, is it breathing?" Rose exclaimed. Then she watched in amazement as a humungous tentacle reached out and picked up Cain Creevey.

"Oh Merlin, it's got him! We have to help." She yelled as she gave Scorpius a less than gentle push forward.

"No we don't! Look, he's laughing." Sure enough, it could be seen that Cain was, in fact, laughing as the large red blob that had just gently set the boy back down.

"It's the giant squid. I thought it was just a rumor." Scorpius said, his voice filled with amazement.

"I heard about it, but I thought it was black, not red. My uncles used to play with it, probably tormented the poor thing." Rose said. Scorpius turned and raised his eye at her.

"Poor thing? That could probably eat you and me for a snack."

"I doubt it." Rose retorted, and then looked at the sky to see the setting sun. "We should probably head back now, before anyone sees us. Leave Creevey to whatever he's up to." She said looking back towards the castle.

"Alright. You feeling less like throttling all your cousins?" Scorpius asked as he slowly flew upward.

"Slightly less." She smirked, but it faltered a bit when she suddenly felt as though someone was watching her. She turned around to see the large, beady eyes of the giant squid looking directly at her. Creevey didn't seem to notice anything, but Rose still felt an unsettling tug in her gut all the same.

"Weird." She whispered.

"What?" Scorpius asked, not too sure if he actually heard anything as the wind whisked past his ears.

"Nothing." Rose said and Scorpius accepted her reply.

They landed softly back in the quidditch pitch and Scorpius locked up his broom. They walked slowly back to the castle, fervently hoping to avoid any prefect patrols.

"Thank Merlin, no one has seen us." Rose said. They reached the door to Slytherin House. However, before either of them could say the password, Tess opened it.

"Oh! There you two are! Finally, I was just about to go out looking for you." She bit her lip and had an extremely worried expression on her face.

"Why, what's wrong?" Scorpius asked.

"You two are in very big trouble." Ralph said, poking his head out from behind Tess, his lips upturned in a gleeful smile.

"The uh…Head of House wants to see you in the hospital wing." Tess said seriously.

"Has something happened?" Rose asked, worried.

"Why don't you tell us?" Ralph asked, still with his infuriating smirk.

"Why don't you just tell us what's going on since you obviously know, Flint!" Scorpius growled, getting fed up with Ralph's attitude.

"I think it would be best if you both came with me." Higgs said as he came up behind Rose and Scorpius. "Professor McPherson is really keen on speaking with the two of you."

Rose and Scorpius looked at each other, both clueless about what could possibly be happening.


	7. Chapter 7

**_AN: So, it's been a while but here's the next chapter. Thanks as always to Maleday who take my extremely rough draft and helps me make it a lot better, (and of course for dealing with my perpetual grammar mistakes). Read and Review and hopefully the next chapter won't take nearly as long!_**

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><p>"I've been teaching at this school for nearly ten years and never before have I come across a situation like this," Professor McPherson said, peering down over her thin black rimmed eye glasses at Rose and Scorpius who were squirming before her. They sat on a small wooden bench in a side room next to the infirmary.<p>

"Do you have any idea what this does to our reputation? As the head of Slytherin house, I have worked so hard to bring us back from those dark days, and now this!" she almost shrieked.

"Professor-"Scorpius started to say before the professor quickly continued. The more she yelled, the more his confusion turned to frustration. Rose just sat next to him in silence, staring at the floor.

"And now _first years_ are going to drag us all back down! I thought you were better than this, Mr. Malfoy, but I guess I was wrong."

"Professor, what are you talk-" Scorpius tried, but was once again ignored.

"Just wait until the headmaster hears about this. You'll both be expelled for sure, after what you've done!"

"Wait, what?" Rose sputtered, her head shooting up as the thought of getting expelled struck instantaneous fear into her heart.

Professor McPherson stop dead in her tracks and whirled around to stare at the young girl who had dared interrupt her.

"What have we done?" Scorpius demanded, taking the opportunity of silence to finally be heard.

"What do you mean, what have you done? Surely you understand the severity of the situation you are in. We do not take things like this lightly. Not lightly at all." She stared incredulously at the children before her, aghast that their utter lack of remorse.

"What situation? What thing are you not taking lightly?" Rose asked, with a slight wobble in her voice.

"Yeah, and why is he here?" Scorpius pointed over his shoulder at Ralph who had followed them the whole way here with an annoying spring in his step. He stood in the back of the classroom with his arms folded and a smirk stretching across his whole face.

His smile faltered a bit when attention was drawn to him, but only for a second. Ralph took great glee in the evident misfortune of the two students who took _his_ place on the quidditch team.

"Well he's the one who saw you, of course. Witnessed what you had done to that poor Gryffindor girl. He reported it to Higgs, who told me," Professor McPherson explained, although it didn't really offer up much information to the two confused students.

"We didn't do anything to any Gryffindor girl. All we did was take a fly around the grounds!" Scorpius exclaimed.

"Scorpius!" Rose screeched at him.

"No, Rose! They're talking expulsion here!" Scorpius turned to the professor. "We can't get expelled for flying around, a couple detentions maybe, but not expulsion!"

He was nearly in tears at the thought. Expulsion would ruin everything. He'd have no chance fixing his family name if he got kicked out of Hogwarts now.

"I'm not referring to some free fly you two had around the grounds Mister Malfoy, but now that you've mentioned it, I'll be sure to look into it, mark my words." Rose groaned at the thought of another detention, but her misery was cut short by what the professor said next.

"I'm referring to you trying to drown your fellow classmate Annabelle Finnigan," Professor McPherson finished.

"Trying to _what_?" Rose gasped. To think she had been worried about a little rule breaking. Attempted murder was on a whole other level. Rose now understood why the professor was in such a state.

"What I can't fathom is why you two would do such a thing. Did it have something to do with the match earlier? A near miss with a bludger? It's quidditch. You can't go after the beater every time the beaters do what they're supposed to!" the professor scolded.

"Professor!" Scorpius shouted, drawing all eyes in the room to him, "Rose and I have no idea what you're talking about. Yeah, we saw the whole Gryffindor team after the match, but that was because Rose had something personal she had to discuss with her family. We didn't even notice Annabelle there," Scorpius tried to explain quickly. He couldn't understand where anyone got the idea that he or Rose did anything to Annabelle Finnigan.

"Yeah, the last time we saw Annabelle was at the pitch earlier this afternoon," Rose backed Scorpius up.

"Who told you we did anything to her anyway? Zabini? He's had it out for us since the first day! Are you really going to expel us over what he says? He doesn't even have any proof!" Scorpius shouted.

"Proof?" Ralph jumped up from his position against the back wall. "What proof do I need? No one saw either of you after the game and no one saw Annabelle either. And let's not forget about Professor Trelawney said a few weeks back. She predicted that you'd be the death of someone. Then you all disappear and the next thing we know, Alwyn Macmillan is bringing Annabelle Finnigan to the hospital wing saying he found her not breathing by the Black Lake. You don't have to have seen anything to put the facts together. That's not even bringing up the fact that I heard Rose threaten the Gryffindors after the game," Ralph screamed back.

Silence came to the room, and only the labored breathing of the infuriated young boys could be heard. Professor McPherson took in the words that Ralph had just spoken and examined the scene before her carefully.

"Mr. Zabini, do you mean to say that you did not, in fact, personally see both Mr. Malfoy and Miss Weasley attempt to drown Miss Finnigan in the Black Lake like you had previously claimed?" Professor McPherson stared down the boy, who instantly realized his misstep and began to back track.

"It's not that I…Well you see I….No, I didn't exactly…But, aren't we told to trust our Professor? I mean, that divination professor was the one who predicted that the Dark Lord would return and how he would be defeated and all that. Who are we to say she's wrong now? Look at the facts! They both were missing, the girl nearly drowned, and it was by the black lake! Most of the facts fit that prophecy to the letter. I was just trying to watch out for my classmate," Ralph tried to explain, attempting a look of innocence.

"As if you care about anyone other than yourself," Scorpius scoffed, disgusted by Ralph's act.

Professor McPherson shook her head in exasperation.

"Mr. Zabini, those were very heavy accusations to fling at your housemates without any definitive proof. Don't waste my time with unfounded accusations again. Mr. Malfoy and Miss Weasley, you will both be banned from the next quidditch match for your disregard of the rules. If you wanted extra time to fly around the pitch, you should have asked for permission. We will be looking into Miss Finnigan's situation carefully, and if I find out that any of you had anything to do with it…..Well, you better hope that I don't." Professor McPherson left her threat in the air. "You two are dismissed. I want a word with Mr. Zabini alone."

Confused and upset, Rose and Scorpius walked out with bleak looks on their faces. Rose's mind was racing through what she'd just heard, trying to make sense of it all. Scorpius, on the other hand was fuming at the injustice of the situation. Anger coursed through his veins at the thought of losing his chance to play in the second quidditch match of his life, all because Ralph was such a vindictive prick.

When Rose and Scorpius were in the common room of the Slytherin dormitories, Scorpius broke out of his moping and addressed Rose.

"I'm sorry I got us kicked out of the next match," Scorpius apologized.

Rose sighed as she sagged into the dark green couch in the center of the room.

"It's alright. I'm just upset that Ralph won. He nearly got us expelled and he gets to play in the next match. When did he become so ….so cunning?" Rose questioned.

"He's a Slytherin, it was probably always there. But he's not that smart; you still need seven players and with the both of us are cut. He probably won't even be able to play," Scorpius reasoned, sitting next to her.

"So instead he gets the whole team to hate us because we have to forfeit? Yeah, he's a real blockhead," Rose scoffed.

"They won't hate us, or at least not you. I mean you did catch the snitch in the first match and help end the Gryffindor's winning streak. So we can't play Ravenclaw, oh well. We'll win all the points we need in the Hufflepuff match."

"Maybe," Rose conceded, and then attempted to stifle a yawn.

"Alright, it's getting late. See you tomorrow at breakfast?" Scorpius asked before he got up to head towards the boy's dormitories.

"Yeah, I'll see you," Rose said after him.

* * *

><p>"So, what happened?" Damian asked before Scorpius even had a chance to fully close the door behind him.<p>

"Ralph," Scorpius said, sitting down on his bed.

"What'd he do this time?"

"Nearly got Rose and me expelled because someone tried to drown Annabelle Finnigan and Ralph told Higgs it was us. When really, all we did was take a fly around the grounds. Now we're banned from the next match all because Ralph has some kid of vendetta against me."

"Oh," Damian, said sitting down across from Scorpius. Scorpius raised an eyebrow.

"Oh? Your _friend_ nearly gets me chucked out and all you say is 'Oh'?"

"Well….No one saw you Rose or Annabelle after the match. Then she ends up nearly drowned; it's not such a huge leap," Damian shrugged.

"Ridiculous," Scorpius scoffed and turned over on his side, facing away from Damian.

Damian chewed his lip and stared at Scorpius's back.

"So, Rose got you in trouble again?" Damian asked after a few moments of silence. Scorpius turned back over and sat up.

"No._ I_ got us in trouble. And what do you mean by again?" Scorpius asked, getting defensive.

"Nothing. It just seems like she gets you into trouble a lot, is all." Damian looked away from Scorpius' scrutinizing gaze.

"We got a detention because we were out after curfew when we were lost on our first night here. That's it. I'm the one who said we should fly around, not her. Where is this coming from?"

"Nowhere….. I mean, Ralph just mentioned-,"Damian started.

"Oh, so this is because of something Ralph said? Go figure," Scorpius grumbled.

"He just mentioned that you spend a lot of time with her, that's all."

"So? What are you getting at?"

"Well, what is it with her?"

"We're friends," Scorpius said, trying to figure out where Damian was going with this.

"Are you sure? I mean a Malfoy and Weasley…it just doesn't seem right."

"What? You're friends with Rose. You're even better friends with her cousin Lucy."

"Yeah, but I'm not a Malfoy, and Lucy isn't the daughter of my father's lifelong enemies. Rose can't help you with what you want, Scorpius," Damian tried to explain.

"What do I want?" Scorpius asked.

"What all us Slytherins want. To bring honor, glory, and fame back to our family names. To be proud of who you are and where you come from." Damian said.

"Glory and fame? I think you've been spending a little too much time with Zabini."

Damian sighed with frustration and scratched his head.

"I'm just trying to help you out, Scorpius. Rose might get in the way of some pretty great opportunities." Damian bit his lip again and looked hard at the carpet. Scorpius could see that he wanted to say more, but for some reason he was holding back.

"Whatever, Damian." Scorpius rolled over and breathed deeply. It had been a long day and Damian was acting very strangely. Scorpius didn't have the energy to deal with him anymore.

"Just consider spending a little less time with her," Damian said quietly.

Scorpius gave a noncommittal grunt, but as he started to drift off to sleep, he tried to think of how Rose could possibly be holding him back.

* * *

><p>"Well look who it is! Rose Weasley in the flesh," Iris gasped in mock surprise. Rose shut the door to the girls' dormitories and turned to see her two roommates sitting on the floor with a large open book that looked like it had seen better days. Just as Iris noticed that Rose had seen the book she quickly closed it and shoved it under her bed.<p>

"What's that?" Rose asked, wondering why her friends were hiding something from her.

"Just an old keepsake Iris was showing me," Tess answered quickly, not looking Rose in the eye.

"Oh, no one cares about some old book. Tell us what happened with Professor McPherson. I've heard she's such a hard-"

"Nothing," Rose cut Iris off.

"Nothing? You mean you didn't get in trouble for…well, you know? Really?" Tess asked, genuinely shocked.

"We didn't get in trouble for what happened to Annabelle Finnigan because neither Scorpius nor I had anything to do with it. We did get banned from the next quidditch match though." Rose sighed as she sat down on her bed.

"Banned from quidditch? What for?" Iris exclaimed.

"We flew around the grounds after the match without permission. Scorpius just had to bring it up. He must have thought we needed an alibi, so we couldn't be blamed for what happened to Annabelle. I'd have rather drunk Veritaserum than get banned from quidditch, though," Rose grumbled and laid back into her pillows.

"He was just trying to stay out of trouble, Rose," Tess tried to reason.

"Sure." Rose rolled over and turned her back to the other girls. Scorpius may have apologized, but she was just starting to realize what that fly around the grounds had really cost her. Ravenclaw would've been a real challenge, one where her family would've finally seen her real skills as a seeker.

Tess looked to Iris and the two shook their heads at their stubborn roommate.

* * *

><p>"There you are." Scorpius woke up to the sound of Damian's voice that cut into the blackness of the room.<p>

"Yeah, Higgs chewed me out after Professor McPherson was done with me," Ralph explained.

"Well, you did nearly get Scorpius and Rose expelled," Damian pointed out.

"So? I did what I had to. If Weasley and Malfoy got kicked out, it would only have been a bonus." Scorpius could hear Ralph's signature smirk in his voice and had to desperately resist the urge to punch him.

"He asleep?" Ralph asked. Scorpius stilled at the acknowledgement.

"He's been out for nearly an hour," Damian said.

"Good. After Higgs chewed me out for getting them banned from next match, he thanked me. Said he understood what I did and why. Said it was good thinking. Now no one knows what really happened with Annabelle."

"Well, yeah but at what cost?" Damian questioned.

"It'll all work out, don't you worry. So how did your little mission go?" Ralph asked.

"Alright. He's thinking about what I said at least."

"Yeah but we'll have to see if he acts on it. Higgs won't let him in until he gets rid of Weasley. None of us can trust that blood traitor." Scorpius gripped his sheets tightly, imaging it was Ralph's throat.

"Ralph, you know he doesn't think about her like that. He just worries because of-"

"Yeah, yeah I know. He'll never have to though because Scorpius won't ever ditch her."

"Yeah you're probably right," Damian conceded.

Scorpius heard the other two boys drift off to sleep as he mulled over what he had heard. His heart dropped as he thought about what he had to do in order to get the answers he desperately wanted.

* * *

><p>"Rose, you asleep?" Tess asked quietly in the dark. It was only a few hours after the three girls had all gone to bed.<p>

Rose was about to respond, but before she could speak, Iris' voice sounded out.

"What are you doing?" she asked, sounding still half asleep.

"Shhh! I'm trying to make sure she's asleep," Tess hushed.

At that, Rose stopped herself from making a sound and tried to even her breaths as she attempted to act as if she hadn't woken.

After a few minutes of silence, Rose could hear Tess move out of her bed.

"I have to move the book to better hiding spot." Rose listened carefully as Tess could be heard leaving the room.

"Why? I thought Higgs planned on bringing Rose into the –" Iris whispered a little louder, as she began to wake up a little more.

"Not until he knows we can trust her. He's still not quite sure Rose or Scorpius would keep it a secret."

"I still don't understand why it has to be kept a secret. It's not like we're doing anything wrong. Well besides the first thing."

"Yeah? Tell that to Rose's mother, the Head of the Magical Law Department. Besides the obvious rule we're breaking, I'm sure there are many more laws we'll break by the end," Tess said as she got back into bed.

"Yeah, it's probably for the best. I mean if she turned on Scorpius over a detention, one she probably had equal responsibility for, it probably wouldn't be too hard for her to turn on us."

"Exactly. Higgs didn't even want Ralph to be a part of it, what with all his purist views and such, but Bole and Montague both vouched for him. I do have to admit he hasn't let anything slip yet." Tess had a tone of surprise in her voice.

"Except that he drew and awful lot of attention to himself when he accused Rose and Scorpius of hurting Annabelle."

"He had to do something. The teachers were looking too closely at Alwyn after he couldn't come up with a really good reason for being down by the Black Lake."

"I guess. Well I'm exhausted. Hopefully Higgs won't have another meeting again for a few days at least." Iris yawned.

"Yeah, he acts as if there is a time limit to all this."

Rose heard the rustle of sheets as Tess got back into bed. She scrunched her eyes in confusion as she played back the conversation her roommates just had in her head. She couldn't understand what they were talking about, but whatever it was, she was determined to figure it out.

* * *

><p>The great hall was bustling with activity as the news of Annabelle's injuries spread. Luckily, no one besides other Slytherins had heard of Rose and Scorpius's supposed part in it.<p>

Rose sat at the far end of the Slytherin table anxiously awaiting Scorpius's arrival. Breakfast was nearly at an end and she was dying to talk to him about what she had heard the night before. She hadn't been able to speak two words to Iris or Tess, afraid that she might burst out in questions about what they had been talking about.

As she looked toward the entrance for Scorpius for the tenth time that morning, she was startled by a voice behind her.

"Hey Rose are you coming with us to Potions?" Tess asked, Iris at her side.

"No, I'll wait for Scorpius." Rose shook her head.

"Alright, but I think he may be in the infirmary. I saw him in the common room earlier and he looked absolutely dreadful," Iris said.

"Really?" Rose asked with concern.

"I wouldn't worry Rose. In fact, there he is right now." Tess pointed behind Rose.

Rose turned to see Scorpius nervously shuffling by the entrance. He was watching her with an intense gaze but once her eyes met his he looked to the floor.

"Well, we'll see you later Rose," Iris said pulling Tess away.

Rose said nothing in return as she only looked toward Scorpius, watching him. Once the two other girls had left, Scorpius finally walked toward Rose.

"Finally. I've been waiting all morning. There is something I really have to talk to you about-"

"Rose, wait. There's something I have to say," Scorpius cut her off.

"But it's the strangest thing I-"

"Rose, please," Scorpius begged. Rose stopped and looked at him closely. He hadn't sat down, only stood there shifting from one foot to the other, wringing his hands.

"Alright," Rose said.

"I think we should spend less time together," Scorpius said quickly and then winced as if it had physically hurt him to say such a thing.

Rose sat before him, her mouth wide open. Of all the things Scorpius could have said, this was not one she considered.

"What?" She breathed out.

"It's just that…Well, It's getting close to the end of term and I really have to start focusing more on school and ….." Scorpius mumbled a few more words, but Rose couldn't hear what he was saying over the whooshing sound in her ears.

"Okay."

"Okay?" Scorpius stopped rambling and looked at her. She was extremely pale staring away from him.

"Yeah, okay. I understand, really. I'll see you later, Malfoy." Rose got up and walked away quickly.

She wiped at her face as soon as she was past him, stopping the tears that were already starting to well up in her eyes as she rushed off.

Scorpius watched her go and once she was out of the hall he dropped to the bench and put his head in his hands.

The guilt overwhelmed him, and he could only hope that she would forgive him once he was able to explain this all to her.

* * *

><p>Rose practically ran all the way to the dungeons. She almost went to Potions when she remembered that she sat next to Scorpius. Knowing that she wouldn't be able to handle the whole class with him right next to her she walked down the hallway to the Slytherin dormitories instead.<p>

She sprinted into her room and slammed the door closed.

First, her roommates were hiding something from her, and then Scorpius, her best friend, no longer wanted to hang out with her.

Rose wiped her face again and then took a few long deep breaths trying to calm herself. It was fine; she didn't need him. Rose knew she could figure out what Tess and Iris were hiding all by herself.

Rose sighed and fell against the door. Her chest ached. Even if she told herself that she didn't need Scorpius, it didn't stop his rejection from hurting so much.

She collapsed to the floor and hug her knees close, not even bothering to wipe the tears that fell down her face.


End file.
